Systems and methods for correcting a voice query based on a subsequent voice query with a lower pronunciation rate

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods for correcting a voice query based on a subsequent voice query with a lower pronunciation rate. In some aspects, the systems and methods calculate first and second pronunciation rates of first and second voice queries. The systems and methods determine that the second pronunciation rate is lower than the first pronunciation rate and determine a first candidate pronunciation time for a first candidate word from the first voice query. The systems and methods determine a second candidate pronunciation time, adjusted to the first pronunciation rate, for the second candidate word from the second voice query. The systems and methods determine that the first candidate pronunciation time matches the second candidate pronunciation time and generate a third voice query based on the first voice query by replacing the first candidate word with the second candidate word.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This patent application is a continuation of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 15/471,681, filed Mar. 28, 2017 (now allowed), the disclosureof which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

Often a user attempts to use a voice query to request a media guidanceapplication to perform a search or another suitable action. Sometimes,the media guidance application may misinterpret that voice query andsearch for something different. In conventional systems, the user has torepeat the whole query again in order to correct the initial voicequery. This can be frustrating and time consuming for the user. Forexample, the user may ask the media guidance application to search forthe schedule of a Boston team by pronouncing the voice query “When isthe Boston team playing?” The media guidance application maymisinterpret the query as “When is the Austin team playing?” and searchfor the wrong team's schedule. The user will have to repeat the initialvoice query “When is the Boston team playing?” in order to obtain theneeded schedule, making the user's experience frustrating and timeconsuming.

SUMMARY

Systems and methods are provided herein for correcting a voice querybased on a subsequent voice query with a lower pronunciation rate. Asused herein, the term “pronunciation rate” is defined to mean a rate atwhich the user is pronouncing the words in a query. An example of apronunciation rate is words per second. For example, the user can askthe media guidance application “When is the Boston team playing?” Thequery might be misinterpreted as “When is the Austin team playing?” andthe user might try to correct the initial query by slowly saying “No, Imeant, Boston.” The media guidance application will then identify“Austin” as the word that the user is trying to correct, because thepronunciation time of the word “Boston” is closest to the pronunciationtime of the word “Austin.” Pronunciation time may be referred to asspell time. The media guidance application will also take into accountthe relative speed with which the user is pronouncing the sentence toestimate the pronunciation time. For example, the media guidanceapplication will take into account that the user pronounces “No, Imeant, Boston” lower.

In some aspects, the media guidance application may receive a voicequery from the user. For example, the media guidance application mayhear the user say “When is the Boston team playing?” but misinterpretthe query as “When is the Austin team playing?” The media guidanceapplication may determine the set of words in the query. For example,the media guidance application may determine that there are six words inthe query: “when,” “is,” “the,” “Austin,” “team,” and “playing.” Themedia guidance application may determine the pronunciation time for thequery. For example, the media guidance application may determine thatthe user took 3 seconds to pronounce the query. The media guidanceapplication may calculate the pronunciation rate of the voice query. Forexample, the media guidance application may calculate the pronunciationrate to be 2 words per second (wps). The media guidance application mayreceive a new voice query from the user. For example, the media guidanceapplication may hear the user slowly say “No, I meant Boston.” The mediaguidance application may calculate the pronunciation rate of the newvoice query. For example, the media guidance application may calculatethe new pronunciation rate to be 1 wps. The media guidance applicationmay conclude that because the new pronunciation rate is lower than theinitial voice query, the user is trying to correct the initial voicequery with the new voice query.

The media guidance application may generate an adjusted voice query,which is the repeated voice query but at the first pronunciation rate.For example, the media guidance application may generate the adjustedvoice query as being “No, I meant, Boston” but played twice as fast asthe original new query, so that the pronunciation rate of the adjustedvoice query is 1 wps. The media guidance application may compare thepronunciation time of a word from the initial voice query and a wordfrom the adjusted voice query to determine if the pronunciation timesmatch. For example, the media guidance application may select the word“Austin” from the initial voice query, and the word “Boston” from theadjusted voice query and determine that their pronunciation times match.Further, the media guidance application may generate a corrected voicequery that is the initial voice query with the word from the adjustedvoice query that matches the pronunciation time of the word in theinitial voice query. For example, the media guidance application maygenerate a corrected voice query being “When is the Boston teamplaying?” The media guidance application may generate for display theresults of the corrected voice query. For example, the media guidanceapplication may display the schedule of the Boston team playing.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may correct theinitial query using a set of stored templates. The media guidanceapplication may replace words in the initial query with words from thenew query by computing a score based on grammar templates stored in thelocal or remote storage. The media guidance application may weigh thetemplates based on the usage frequency of the templates.

In order to determine the words in a query, in some embodiments, themedia guidance application may determine a set of pauses in the query.For example, the media guidance application may determine that there areseven pauses, including one before the first “When” and one after“playing.” Further, the media guidance application may select twoconsecutive pauses. For example, the media guidance application mayselect the fourth and fifth pause from the seven pauses identifiedabove. The media guidance application may then determine a word than islocated between the two consecutive pauses. For example, the mediaguidance application may determine “Austin” as a word in the query.

In order to determine the pronunciation rate of a query, in someembodiments, the media guidance application may determine the number ofpauses in the query. For example, the media guidance application maydetermine that there are seven pauses in the query. The media guidanceapplication may determine the number as one less than the number ofpauses. For example, the media guidance application may determine thatthere are seven pauses and thus six words in the query. The mediaguidance application may calculate the pronunciation rate of the querybased on the number of words and the pronunciation time of the query.For example, the media guidance application may determine that thepronunciation rate is 2 wps because there are six words and thepronunciation time of the query is 3 seconds.

In order to determine a pronunciation time of a word in a query, in someembodiments, the media guidance application may determine a pause thatis located immediately before the word and determine the time at whichthat pause is over. For example, the media guidance application maydetermine that the fourth pause, the pause before the word “Austin,” isover at 1.5 seconds. The media guidance application may determine apause that is located immediately after the word and determine the timeat which that pause starts. For example, the media guidance applicationmay determine that the fifth pause, the pause after the word “Austin,”starts at 2 seconds. The media guidance application may determine thepronunciation time of a word as the difference between the time of thestart of the pause after the word and the time of the end of the pausebefore the word. For example, the media guidance application maydetermine that the word “Austin” has a pronunciation time of 0.5 seconds(2 seconds minus 1.5 seconds). In the case when the pronunciation timesof the word from the initial query and adjusted query do not match, insome embodiments, the media guidance application may pick a new wordfrom the initial query. For example, the media guidance application maydetermine that the pronunciation time of the word “When,” from theinitial query and the word “meant” from the adjusted query do not matchand pick the word “Austin,” from the initial query to compare to theword “meant.” Alternatively, the media guidance application may pick anew word from the adjusted query. For example, the media guidanceapplication may pick the word “Boston,” from the adjusted query, tocompare to the word “When,” from the initial query. Alternatively, themedia guidance application may pick a new word from the initial queryand a new word from the adjusted query. For example, the media guidanceapplication may pick the word “Austin,” from the initial query and theword “Boston,” from the adjusted query.

In order to determine whether the pronunciation times of the word fromthe initial query and adjusted query match, in some embodiments, themedia guidance application may receive a threshold deviation time. Asdefined herein, the term “threshold deviation time” is defined to mean amaximum pronunciation time difference between the words, which willstill result in the media guidance application determining that thepronunciation times of the two words match. For example, the mediaguidance application may receive a 5 milliseconds (ms) thresholddeviation time. The media guidance application may determine thedifference between the pronunciation times of the two words. Forexample, the media guidance application may determine that the word“Austin” has a pronunciation time of 500 ms and the word “Boston” has apronunciation time of 503 ms. The media guidance application maydetermine that the words match if the time difference between thepronunciation times is smaller than the threshold deviation time. Forexample, the media guidance application may determine that the word“Austin” and “Boston” match since the difference in their pronunciationtimes is only 3 ms, which is smaller than the 5 ms corresponding to thethreshold deviation time.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may display thecorrected query to the user and allow the user to confirm that the queryis correct. For example, the media guidance application may display tothe user the corrected query “When is the Boston team playing?” for theuser to confirm that the query is a correct one. The media guidanceapplication may, after the user has confirmed that the corrected queryis correct, display search results corresponding to the corrected query.For example, the media guidance application may display schedules forthe Boston team.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may receive an inputfrom the user indicating that the corrected query is wrong. For example,the user may receive a corrected query saying “When is the Austin teammeant?” and indicate that the query is wrong. The media guidanceapplication may then receive another query from the user trying tocorrect the initial query. For example, the user can slowly say“Boston.” The media guidance application may then go through the processdescribed above in order to generate a correct query.

In some aspects, the media guidance application may receive a firstvoice query from a user. For example, the media guidance application mayhear the user say “When is the Boston team playing?” but misinterpretthe query as “When is the Austin team playing?” In some embodiments, themedia guidance application may determine a first set of words in thefirst voice query. For example, the media guidance application maydetermine that there are six words in the first voice query: “when,”“is,” “the,” “Austin,” “team,” and “playing.” In some embodiments, themedia guidance application may determine a first pronunciation timetaken by the user for the first voice query. For example, the mediaguidance application may determine that the user took 3 seconds topronounce the query. In some embodiments, the media guidance applicationmay calculate a first pronunciation rate of the first voice query basedon a first number of words in the first set of words and based on thefirst pronunciation time. For example, the media guidance applicationmay calculate the first pronunciation rate to be 2 wps. In someembodiments, the media guidance application may receive a second voicequery from the user. For example, the media guidance application mayhear the user slowly say “No, I meant, Boston.” In some embodiments, themedia guidance application may determine a second set of words in thesecond voice query. For example, the media guidance application maydetermine that there are four words in the second voice query: “No,”“I,” “meant,” and “Boston.” In some embodiments, the media guidanceapplication may determine a second pronunciation time taken by the userfor the second voice query. For example, the media guidance applicationmay determine that the second pronunciation time is 1 wps.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may calculate asecond pronunciation rate of the second voice query based on a secondnumber of words in the second set of words and based on the secondpronunciation time. For example, the media guidance application maycalculate the pronunciation rate of the second voice query to be 1 wps.In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determinewhether the second pronunciation rate is lower than the firstpronunciation rate. For example, the media guidance application maydetermine that second query has a lower pronunciation rate (1 wps) thanthe first query (2 wps). In some embodiments, in response to determiningthat the second pronunciation rate is lower than the first pronunciationrate, the media guidance application may generate a third voice querybased on the second set of words and the first pronunciation rate. Forexample, the media guidance application may generate a third voice querybeing “No, I meant, Boston” but having a 2 wps pronunciation rate. Insome embodiments, the media guidance application may select a firstcandidate word from the first set of words in the first voice query. Forexample, the media guidance application may select the word “Austin”from the first voice query.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determine afirst candidate pronunciation time for the first candidate word in thefirst voice query. For example, the media guidance application maydetermine that the first candidate pronunciation time for the word“Austin” is 500 ms. In some embodiments, the media guidance applicationmay select a second candidate word from the second set of words in thethird voice query. For example, the media guidance application mayselect the word “Boston” from the second voice query. In someembodiments, the media guidance application may determine a secondcandidate pronunciation time for the second candidate word in the thirdvoice query. For example, the media guidance application may determinethat second candidate pronunciation time for the word “Boston” is 500ms. In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determinewhether the first candidate pronunciation time matches the secondcandidate pronunciation time. For example, the media guidanceapplication may determine that the pronunciation times of the word“Austin” and “Boston” match. In some embodiments, in response todetermining that the first candidate pronunciation time matches thesecond candidate pronunciation time, the media guidance application maygenerate a fourth voice query based on the first set of words and thefirst pronunciation rate, wherein the first candidate word in the firstset of words is replaced with the second candidate word. For example,the media guidance application may generate a fourth query being “Whenis the Boston team playing?” In some embodiments, the media guidanceapplication may generate for display one or more search results for thefirst and second voice queries based on the fourth voice query. Forexample, the media guidance application may display the schedule of theBoston team playing.

In order to determine the first set of words in the first voice query,in some embodiments, the media guidance application may determine afirst set of pauses in the first voice query. For example, the mediaguidance application may determine that there are seven pauses,including one before the first “When” and one after “playing.” In someembodiments, the media guidance application may select two consecutivepauses from the first set of pauses. For example, the media guidanceapplication may select the fourth and fifth pause from the first set ofpauses. In some embodiments, the media guidance application maydetermine a first word in the first set of words, wherein the first wordis located between the two consecutive pauses from the first set ofpauses. For example, the media guidance application may determine“Austin” as a word in the query because it is located between the fourthand fifth pauses.

In order to calculate the first pronunciation rate of the first voicequery based on the first number of words in the first set of words andbased on the first pronunciation time, in some embodiments, the mediaguidance application may determine a number of pauses in the first setof pauses. For example, the media guidance application may determinethat there are seven pauses in the first set of pauses. In someembodiments, the media guidance application may determine the firstnumber of words as one less than the number of pauses in the first setof pauses. For example, the media guidance application may determinethat there are seven pauses in the first set of pauses and thus sixwords in the first set of words. In some embodiments, the media guidanceapplication may calculate the first pronunciation rate based on thefirst pronunciation time and the first number of words. For example, themedia guidance application may determine that the first pronunciationrate is 2 wps because there are six words in the first set of words andthe first pronunciation time of the first voice query is 3 seconds.

In order to determine the first candidate pronunciation time for thefirst candidate word, in some embodiments, the media guidanceapplication may determine a first pause from the first set of pauses,wherein the first pause is located before the first candidate word. Forexample, the media guidance application may determine that the fourthpause is before the word “Austin.” In some embodiments, the mediaguidance application may determine a second pause from the first set ofpauses, wherein the second pause is located after the first candidateword. For example, the media guidance application may determine that thefifth pause is located after the word “Austin.” In some embodiments, themedia guidance application may determine a first time that correspondsto an end of the first pause. For example, the media guidanceapplication may determine that the fourth pause is over at 1.5 seconds.In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determine asecond time that corresponds to a beginning of the second pause. Forexample, the media guidance application may determine that the fifthpause starts at 2 seconds. In some embodiments, the media guidanceapplication may determine the first candidate pronunciation time as adifference between the first time and the second time. For example, themedia guidance application may determine that the word “Austin” has thefirst pronunciation time of 500 ms (2 seconds minus 1.5 seconds).

In some embodiments, in response to determining that the first candidatepronunciation time does not match the second candidate pronunciationtime, the media guidance application may select a third candidate wordfrom the first set of words in the first voice query. For example, themedia guidance application may select the word “Austin,” instead of theinitial selected word “playing,” from the first voice query. In someembodiments, the media guidance application may determine a thirdcandidate pronunciation time for the third candidate word in the firstvoice query. For example, the media guidance application may determinethat the third candidate pronunciation time is 500 ms for the thirdcandidate word “Austin.” In some embodiments, the media guidanceapplication may determine whether the third candidate pronunciation timematches the second candidate pronunciation time. For example, the mediaguidance application may determine that since the word “Boston” has a500 ms second candidate pronunciation time, it matches the thirdcandidate word “Austin.”

In some embodiments, in response to determining that the third candidatepronunciation time matches the second candidate pronunciation time, themedia guidance application may generate a fourth voice query based onthe first set of words and the first pronunciation rate, wherein thethird candidate word in the first set of words is replaced with thesecond candidate word. For example, the media guidance application maygenerate a fourth query being “When is the Boston team playing?” In someembodiments, the media guidance application may generate for display oneor more search results for the first and second voice queries based onthe fourth voice query. For example, the media guidance application maygenerate for display schedules of the Boston team playing.

Alternatively, in some embodiments, in response to determining that thefirst candidate pronunciation time does not match the second candidatepronunciation time, the media guidance application may select a thirdcandidate word from the second set of words in the third voice query.For example, the media guidance application may select the word“Boston,” after initially selecting the word “meant.” In someembodiments, the media guidance application may determine a thirdcandidate pronunciation time for the third candidate word in the thirdvoice query. In some embodiments, the media guidance application maydetermine whether the first candidate pronunciation time matches thethird candidate pronunciation time. In some embodiments, in response todetermining that the first candidate pronunciation time matches thethird candidate pronunciation time, the media guidance application maygenerate a fourth voice query based on the first set of words and thefirst pronunciation rate, wherein the first candidate word in the firstset of words is replaced with the third candidate word. In someembodiments, the media guidance application may generate for display oneor more search results for the first and second voice queries based onthe fourth voice query.

Alternatively, in some embodiments, in response to determining that thefirst candidate pronunciation time does not match the second candidatepronunciation time, the media guidance application may select a thirdcandidate word from the first set of words in the first voice query. Insome embodiments, the media guidance application may determine a thirdcandidate pronunciation time for the third candidate word in the firstvoice query. In some embodiments, the media guidance application mayselect a fourth candidate word from the second set of words in the thirdvoice query. In some embodiments, the media guidance application maydetermine a fourth candidate pronunciation time for the fourth candidateword in the third voice query. In some embodiments, the media guidanceapplication may determine whether the third candidate pronunciation timematches the fourth candidate pronunciation time. In some embodiments, inresponse to determining that the third candidate pronunciation timematches the fourth candidate pronunciation time, the media guidanceapplication may generate a fourth voice query based on the first set ofwords and the first pronunciation rate, wherein the third candidate wordin the first set of words is replaced with the fourth candidate word. Insome embodiments, the media guidance application may generate fordisplay one or more search results for the first and second voicequeries based on the fourth voice query.

In order to determine whether the first candidate pronunciation timematches the second candidate pronunciation time, in some embodiments,the media guidance application may receive a threshold deviation time.For example, the media guidance application may receive a 5 ms thresholddeviation time. In some embodiments, the media guidance application maydetermine a time difference between the first candidate pronunciationtime and the second candidate pronunciation time. For example, the mediaguidance application may determine that the word “Austin” has apronunciation time of 500 ms and the word “Boston” has a pronunciationtime of 503 ms, thus the time difference would be 3 ms. In someembodiments, the media guidance application may determine whether thetime difference between the first candidate pronunciation time and thesecond candidate pronunciation time is less than the threshold deviationtime. For example, the media guidance application may determine that the3 ms time difference is less than the 5 ms threshold deviation time. Insome embodiments, in response to determining that the time difference isless than the threshold deviation time, the media guidance applicationmay determine that the first candidate pronunciation time matches thesecond candidate pronunciation time.

While generating for display one or more search results for the firstand second voice queries based on the fourth voice query, in someembodiments, the media guidance application may generate for display thefourth voice query. For example, the media guidance application maydisplay to the user the corrected query “When is the Boston teamplaying?” for the user to confirm that the query is a correct one. Insome embodiments, the media guidance application may present the userwith a first selectable option to indicate that the fourth voice queryis correct and a second selectable option to indicate that the fourthvoice query is incorrect. For example, the media guidance applicationmay display a selectable option to confirm that the fourth voice queryis correct and a selectable option to state that the fourth voice queryis wrong. In some embodiments, the media guidance application mayreceive a user selection of the first selectable option to indicate thatthe fourth voice query is correct. For example, the media guidanceapplication may receive the indication that the user selected theselectable option to confirm that the fourth voice query is correct. Insome embodiments, the media guidance application may, in response toreceiving the user selection of the first selectable option, generatefor display one or more search results for the first and second voicequeries based on the fourth voice query.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may receive a userselection of the second selectable option to indicate that the fourthvoice query is incorrect. For example, the media guidance applicationmay receive the indication that the user selected the selectable optionto state that the fourth voice query is wrong. In some embodiments, themedia guidance application may, in response to receiving the userselection of the second selectable option, request the user to inputanother voice query. For example, the media guidance application maydisplay a message prompting the user for a repeated query. In someembodiments, the media guidance application may receive a fifth voicequery from the user. For example, the media guidance application mayreceive the fifth voice query of the user slowly saying “Boston.” Insome embodiments, the media guidance application may determine a fifthset of words in the fifth voice query.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determine afifth pronunciation time taken by the user for the fifth voice query. Insome embodiments, the media guidance application may calculate a fifthpronunciation rate of the fifth voice query based on a fifth number ofwords in the fifth set of words and based on the fifth pronunciationtime. In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determinewhether the fifth pronunciation rate is lower than the firstpronunciation rate. In some embodiments, the media guidance applicationmay, in response to determining that the fifth pronunciation rate islower than the first pronunciation rate, generate a sixth voice querybased on the fifth set of words and the first pronunciation rate.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may select a thirdcandidate word from the first set of words in the first voice query. Insome embodiments, the media guidance application may determine a thirdcandidate pronunciation time for the third candidate word in the firstvoice query. In some embodiments, the media guidance application mayselect a fourth candidate word from the fourth set of words in the sixthvoice query. In some embodiments, the media guidance application maydetermine a fourth candidate pronunciation time for the fourth candidateword in the sixth voice query. In some embodiments, the media guidanceapplication may determine whether the third candidate pronunciation timematches the fourth candidate pronunciation time. In some embodiments,the media guidance application may, in response to determining that thethird candidate pronunciation time matches the fourth candidatepronunciation time, generate a seventh voice query based on the firstset of words and the first pronunciation rate, wherein the thirdcandidate word in the first set of words is replaced with the fourthcandidate word. In some embodiments, the media guidance application maygenerate for display one or more search results for the first and fifthvoice queries based on the sixth voice query.

Often a user attempts to use a voice query to request a media guidanceapplication to perform a search or another suitable action. Sometimes,the media guidance application may misinterpret that voice query andsearch for something different. In conventional systems, the user has torepeat the whole query again in order to correct the initial voicequery. This can be frustrating and time consuming for the user. Forexample, the user may ask the media guidance application to search forthe schedule of a Boston team by pronouncing the voice query “When isthe Boston team playing?” The media guidance application maymisinterpret the query as “When is the Austin team playing?” and searchfor the wrong team's schedule. The user will have to repeat the initialvoice query “When is the Boston team playing?” in order to obtain theneeded schedule, making the user's experience frustrating and timeconsuming.

The conventional approach to this problem is for the user to repeat theinitial query in order to correct the query. The systems and methodsdescribed herein provide a solution that allows the user to correct theinitial query by simply repeating the misinterpreted word. This solutionmay be achieved by a media guidance application that calculates a firstpronunciation rate of a first voice query from a user, calculates asecond pronunciation rate of a second voice query from the user, anddetermines whether the second pronunciation rate is lower than the firstpronunciation rate. In response to determining that the secondpronunciation rate is lower than the first pronunciation rate, the mediaguidance application selects a first candidate word from the first voicequery; determines a first candidate pronunciation time for the firstcandidate word; selects a second candidate word in the second voicequery; determines a second candidate pronunciation time for the secondcandidate word, wherein the second candidate pronunciation time isadjusted from the second pronunciation rate to the first pronunciationrate; determines whether the first candidate pronunciation time matchesthe second candidate pronunciation time; and, in response to determiningthat the first candidate pronunciation time matches the second candidatepronunciation time, generates a third voice query based on the firstvoice query, wherein the first candidate word in the first voice queryis replaced with the second candidate word.

It should be noted that the systems, methods, apparatuses, and/oraspects described above may be applied to, or used in accordance with,other systems, methods, apparatuses, and/or aspects described in thisdisclosure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other objects and advantages of the disclosure will beapparent upon consideration of the following detailed description, takenin conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like referencecharacters refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

FIG. 1 shows an illustrative example of an interactive media guidanceapplication receiving a subsequent voice query to correct the initialvoice query, in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 2 shows an illustrative embodiment of a display screen that may beused to provide media guidance application listings and other mediaguidance information, in accordance with some embodiments of thedisclosure;

FIG. 3 shows another illustrative embodiment of a display screen thatmay be used to provide media guidance application listings, inaccordance with some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an illustrative user equipment (UE) devicein accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of an illustrative media system, in accordancewith some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 6 depicts an illustrative flowchart of a process for correcting avoice query based on a subsequent voice query with a lower pronunciationrate by generating a third voice query, in accordance with someembodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 7 depicts an illustrative flowchart of a process for, in responseto determining that the first candidate pronunciation time does notmatch the second candidate pronunciation time, selecting and processinga third candidate word from the first voice query, in accordance withsome embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 8 depicts an illustrative flowchart of a process for, in responseto determining that the first candidate pronunciation time does notmatch the second candidate pronunciation time, selecting and processinga third candidate word from the second voice query, in accordance withsome embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 9 depicts an illustrative flowchart of a process for, in responseto determining that the first candidate pronunciation time does notmatch the second candidate pronunciation time, selecting and processinga third candidate word from the first voice query and a fourth candidateword from the second voice query, in accordance with some embodiments ofthe disclosure; and

FIG. 10 depicts an illustrative flowchart of a process for correcting avoice query based on a subsequent voice query with a lower pronunciationrate, in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Systems and methods are provided herein for correcting a voice querybased on a subsequent voice query with a lower pronunciation rate. Asused herein, the term “pronunciation rate” is defined to mean a rate atwhich the user is pronouncing the words in a query. An example of apronunciation rate is words per second. For example, the user can askthe media guidance application “When is the Boston team playing?” Thequery might be misinterpreted as “When is the Austin team playing?” andthe user might try to correct the initial query by slowly saying “No, Imeant Boston.” The media guidance application will then identify“Austin” as the word that the user is trying to correct, because thepronunciation time of the word “Boston” is closest to the pronunciationtime of the word “Austin.” Pronunciation time may be referred to asspell time. The media guidance application will also take into accountthe relative speed with which the user is pronouncing the sentence toestimate the pronunciation time. For example, the media guidanceapplication will take into account that the user pronounces “No, I meantBoston” at a lower rate.

FIG. 1 shows an illustrative example of an interactive media guidanceapplication receiving a subsequent voice query to correct the initialvoice query, in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure. Asdepicted FIG. 1 includes first voice query 102, overlay 104, user 106,and second voice query 108. The media guidance application may displayfirst voice query 102 on the displayed overlay 104. The media guidanceapplication may then receive second voice query 108 from user 106 whorealized that first voice query 102 is incorrect.

In some aspects, the media guidance application may receive a voicequery from the user. For example, the media guidance application mayhear the user say “When is the Boston team playing?” but misinterpretthe query as “When is the Austin team playing?” The media guidanceapplication may determine the set of words in the query. For example,the media guidance application may determine that there are six words inthe query: “when,” “is,” “the,” “Austin,” “team,” and “playing.” Themedia guidance application may determine the pronunciation time for thequery. For example, the media guidance application may determine thatthe user took 3 seconds to pronounce the query. The media guidanceapplication may calculate the pronunciation rate of the voice query. Forexample, the media guidance application may calculate the pronunciationrate to be 2 words per second (wps). The media guidance application mayreceive a new voice query from the user. For example, the media guidanceapplication may hear the user slowly say “No, I meant Boston.” The mediaguidance application may calculate the pronunciation rate of the newvoice query. For example, the media guidance application may calculatethe new pronunciation rate to be 1 wps. The media guidance applicationmay conclude that because the new pronunciation rate is lower than theinitial voice query, the user is trying to correct the initial voicequery with the new voice query.

The media guidance application may generate an adjusted voice query,which is the repeated voice query but at the first pronunciation rate.For example, the media guidance application may generate the adjustedvoice query as being “No, I meant Boston” but played twice as fast asthe original new query, so that the pronunciation rate of the adjustedvoice query is 1 wps. The media guidance application may compare thepronunciation time of a word from the initial voice query and a wordfrom the adjusted voice query to determine if the pronunciation timesmatch. For example, the media guidance application may select the word“Austin” from the initial voice query, and the word “Boston” from theadjusted voice query and determine that their pronunciation times match.Further, the media guidance application may generate a corrected voicequery that is the initial voice query with the word from the adjustedvoice query that matches the pronunciation time of the word in theinitial voice query. For example, the media guidance application maygenerate a corrected voice query being “When is the Boston teamplaying?” The media guidance application may generate for display theresults of the corrected voice query. For example, the media guidanceapplication may display the schedule of the Boston team playing.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may correct theinitial query using a set of stored templates. The media guidanceapplication may replace words in the initial query with words from thenew query by computing a score based on grammar templates stored in thelocal or remote storage. The media guidance application may weigh thetemplates based on the usage frequency of the templates.

In order to determine the words in a query, in some embodiments, themedia guidance application may determine a set of pauses in the query.For example, the media guidance application may determine that there areseven pauses, including one before the first “When” and one after“playing.” Further, the media guidance application may select twoconsecutive pauses. For example, the media guidance application mayselect the fourth and fifth pause from the seven pauses identifiedabove. The media guidance application may then determine a word that islocated between the two consecutive pauses. For example, the mediaguidance application may determine “Austin” as a word in the query.

In order to determine the pronunciation rate of a query, in someembodiments, the media guidance application may determine the number ofpauses in the query. For example, the media guidance application maydetermine that there are seven pauses in the query. The media guidanceapplication may determine the number as one less than the number ofpauses. For example, the media guidance application may determine thatthere are seven pauses and thus six words in the query. The mediaguidance application may calculate the pronunciation rate of the querybased on the number of words and the pronunciation time of the query.For example, the media guidance application may determine that thepronunciation rate is 2 wps because there are six words and thepronunciation time of the query is 3 seconds.

In order to determine a pronunciation time of a word in a query, in someembodiments, the media guidance application may determine a pause thatis located immediately before the word and determine the time at whichthat pause is over. For example, the media guidance application maydetermine that the fourth pause, the pause before the word “Austin,” isover at 1.5 seconds. The media guidance application may determine apause that is located immediately after the word and determine the timeat which that pause starts. For example, the media guidance applicationmay determine that the fifth pause, the pause after the word “Austin,”starts at 2 seconds. The media guidance application may determine thepronunciation time of a word as the difference between time of the startof the pause after the word and the time of the end of the pause beforethe word. For example, the media guidance application may determine thatthe word “Austin” has a pronunciation time of 0.5 seconds (2 secondsminus 1.5 seconds).

In the case when the pronunciation times of the word from the initialquery and adjusted query do not match, in some embodiments, the mediaguidance application may pick a new word from the initial query. Forexample, the media guidance application may determine that thepronunciation time of the word “When,” from the initial query and theword “meant” from the adjusted query do not match and pick the word“Austin,” from the initial query to compare to the word “meant.”Alternatively, the media guidance application may pick a new word fromthe adjusted query. For example, the media guidance application may pickthe word “Boston,” from the adjusted query, to compare to the word“When,” from the initial query. Alternatively, the media guidanceapplication may pick a new word from the initial query and a new wordfrom the adjusted query. For example, the media guidance application maypick the word “Austin,” from the initial query and the word “Boston,”from the adjusted query.

In order to determine whether the pronunciation times of the word fromthe initial query and adjusted query match, in some embodiments, themedia guidance application may receive a threshold deviation time. Asdefined herein, the term “threshold deviation time” is defined to mean amaximum pronunciation time difference between the words, which willstill result in the media guidance application determining that thepronunciation times of the two words match. For example, the mediaguidance application may receive a 5 milliseconds (ms) thresholddeviation time. The media guidance application may determine thedifference between the pronunciation times of the two words. Forexample, the media guidance application may determine that the word“Austin” has a pronunciation time of 500 ms and the word “Boston” has apronunciation time of 503 ms. The media guidance application maydetermine that the words match if the time difference between thepronunciation times is smaller than the threshold deviation time. Forexample, the media guidance application may determine that the word“Austin” and “Boston” match, since the difference in their pronunciationtimes is only 3 ms, which is smaller than the 5 ms corresponding to thethreshold deviation time.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may display thecorrected query to the user and allow the user to confirm that the queryis correct. For example, the media guidance application may display tothe user the corrected query “When is the Boston team playing?” for theuser to confirm that the query is a correct one. The media guidanceapplication may, after the user has confirmed that the corrected queryis correct, display search results corresponding to the corrected query.For example, the media guidance application may display schedules forthe Boston team.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may receive an inputfrom the user indicating that the corrected query is wrong. For example,the user may receive a corrected query saying “When is the Austin teamplaying?” and indicate that the query is wrong. The media guidanceapplication may then receive another query from the user trying tocorrect the initial query. For example, the user can slowly say“Boston.” The media guidance application may then go through the processdescribed above in order to generate a correct query.

In some aspects, the media guidance application may receive a firstvoice query 102 from a user. For example, the media guidance applicationmay hear the user say “When is the Boston team playing?” butmisinterpret the query as “When is the Austin team playing?” The mediaguidance application may store the first voice query 102 in storage 408.The media guidance application may receive the first voice query 102through user input interface 410. The media guidance application maydisplay the first voice query 102 on display 412. In some embodiments,the media guidance application may determine a first set of words in thefirst voice query 102. For example, the media guidance application maydetermine that there are six words in the first voice query 102: “when,”“is,” “the,” “Austin,” “team,” and “playing.” In some embodiments, themedia guidance application may determine a first pronunciation timetaken by the user for the first voice query 102. For example, the mediaguidance application may determine that the user took 3 seconds topronounce the query.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may calculate afirst pronunciation rate of the first voice query 102 based on a firstnumber of words in the first set of words and based on the firstpronunciation time. For example, the media guidance application maycalculate the first pronunciation rate to be 2 wps. In some embodiments,the media guidance application may receive a second voice query 108 fromthe user. For example, the media guidance application may hear the userslowly say “No, I meant Boston.” In some embodiments, the media guidanceapplication may determine a second set of words in the second voicequery 108. For example, the media guidance application may determinethat there are four words in the second voice query 108: “No,” “I,”“meant,” and “Boston.” In some embodiments, the media guidanceapplication may determine a second pronunciation time taken by the userfor the second voice query 108. For example, the media guidanceapplication may determine that the second pronunciation time is 1 wps.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may calculate asecond pronunciation rate of the second voice query 108 based on asecond number of words in the second set of words and based on thesecond pronunciation time. For example, the media guidance applicationmay calculate the pronunciation rate of the second voice query 108 to be1 wps. In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determinewhether the second pronunciation rate is lower than the firstpronunciation rate. For example, the media guidance application maydetermine that second query is has a lower pronunciation rate (1 wps)than the first query (2 wps). In some embodiments, in response todetermining that the second pronunciation rate is lower than the firstpronunciation rate, the media guidance application may generate a thirdvoice query based on the second set of words and the first pronunciationrate. For example, the media guidance application may generate a thirdvoice query being “No, I meant Boston” but having a 2 wps pronunciationrate. In some embodiments, the media guidance application may select afirst candidate word from the first set of words in the first voicequery 102. The media guidance application may select the first candidateword at random, in the order of appearance of the words, in the reverseorder of appearance of the words, and the like. For example, the mediaguidance application may select the word “Austin” from the first voicequery 102.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determine afirst candidate pronunciation time for the first candidate word in thefirst voice query 102. For example, the media guidance application maydetermine that the first candidate pronunciation time for the word“Austin” is 500 ms. In some embodiments, the media guidance applicationmay select a second candidate word from the second set of words in thethird voice query. For example, the media guidance application mayselect the word “Boston” from the second voice query 108. In someembodiments, the media guidance application may determine a secondcandidate pronunciation time for the second candidate word in the thirdvoice query. For example, the media guidance application may determinethat second candidate pronunciation time for the word “Boston” is 500ms.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determinewhether the first candidate pronunciation time matches the secondcandidate pronunciation time. For example, the media guidanceapplication may determine that the pronunciation times of the word“Austin” and “Boston” match. In some embodiments, in response todetermining that the first candidate pronunciation time matches thesecond candidate pronunciation time, the media guidance application maygenerate a fourth voice query based on the first set of words and thefirst pronunciation rate, wherein the first candidate word in the firstset of words is replaced with the second candidate word. For example,the media guidance application may generate a fourth query being “Whenis the Boston team playing?” In some embodiments, the media guidanceapplication may generate for display one or more search results for thefirst and second voice queries based on the fourth voice query. Themedia guidance application may use display 412 to generate the searchresults for the first and second voice queries based on the fourth voicequery. For example, the media guidance application may display theschedule of the Boston team playing.

In order to determine the first set of words in the first voice query102, in some embodiments, the media guidance application may determine afirst set of pauses in the first voice query 102. The media guidanceapplication may use the level of the sound to determine the pause. Themedia guidance application may receive a threshold level of sound from aremote or local database. If the level of sound is lower than thethreshold level, the media guidance application may determine a pause.For example, the media guidance application may determine that there areseven pauses, including one before the first “When” and one after“playing.” In some embodiments, the media guidance application mayselect two consecutive pauses from the first set of pauses. The mediaguidance application may store the pauses in storage 408. For example,the media guidance application may select the fourth and fifth pausefrom the first set of pauses. In some embodiments, the media guidanceapplication may determine a first word in the first set of words,wherein the first word is located between the two consecutive pausesfrom the first set of pauses. For example, the media guidanceapplication may determine “Austin” as a word in the query because it islocated between the fourth and fifth pauses.

In order to calculate the first pronunciation rate of the first voicequery 102 based on the first number of words in the first set of wordsand based on the first pronunciation time, in some embodiments, themedia guidance application may determine a number of pauses in the firstset of pauses. For example, the media guidance application may determinethat there are seven pauses in the first set of pauses. In someembodiments, the media guidance application may determine the firstnumber of words as one less than the number of pauses in the first setof pauses. For example, the media guidance application may determinethat there are seven pauses in the first set of pauses and thus sixwords in the first set of words. In some embodiments, the media guidanceapplication may calculate the first pronunciation rate based on thefirst pronunciation time and the first number of words. For example, themedia guidance application may determine that the first pronunciationrate is 2 wps because there are six words in the first set of words andthe first pronunciation time of the first voice query 102 is 3 seconds.

In order to determine the first candidate pronunciation time for thefirst candidate word, in some embodiments, the media guidanceapplication may determine a first pause from the first set of pauses,wherein the first pause is located before the first candidate word. Forexample, the media guidance application may determine that the fourthpause is before the word “Austin.” In some embodiments, the mediaguidance application may determine a second pause from the first set ofpauses, wherein the second pause is located after the first candidateword. For example, the media guidance application may determine that thefifth pause is located after the word “Austin.” In some embodiments, themedia guidance application may determine a first time that correspondsto an end of the first pause. For example, the media guidanceapplication may determine that the fourth pause is over at 1.5 seconds.In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determine asecond time that corresponds to a beginning of the second pause. Forexample, the media guidance application may determine that the fifthpause starts at 2 seconds. In some embodiments, the media guidanceapplication may determine the first candidate pronunciation time as adifference between the first time and the second time. For example, themedia guidance application may determine that the word “Austin” has thefirst pronunciation time of 500 ms (2 seconds minus 1.5 seconds).

In some embodiments, in response to determining that the first candidatepronunciation time does not match the second candidate pronunciationtime, the media guidance application may select a third candidate wordfrom the first set of words in the first voice query 102. For example,the media guidance application may select the word “Austin,” instead ofthe initial selected word “playing,” from the first voice query 102. Insome embodiments, the media guidance application may determine a thirdcandidate pronunciation time for the third candidate word in the firstvoice query 102. For example, the media guidance application maydetermine that the third candidate pronunciation time is 500 ms for thethird candidate word “Austin.” In some embodiments, the media guidanceapplication may determine whether the third candidate pronunciation timematches the second candidate pronunciation time. For example, the mediaguidance application may determine that since the word “Boston” has a500 ms second candidate pronunciation time, it matches the thirdcandidate word “Austin.” In some embodiments, in response to determiningthat the third candidate pronunciation time matches the second candidatepronunciation time, the media guidance application may generate a fourthvoice query based on the first set of words and the first pronunciationrate, wherein the third candidate word in the first set of words isreplaced with the second candidate word. For example, the media guidanceapplication may generate a fourth query being “When is the Boston teamplaying?” In some embodiments, the media guidance application maygenerate for display one or more search results for the first and secondvoice queries based on the fourth voice query. For example, the mediaguidance application may generate for display schedules of the Bostonteam playing.

Alternatively, in some embodiments, in response to determining that thefirst candidate pronunciation time does not match the second candidatepronunciation time, the media guidance application may select a thirdcandidate word from the second set of words in the third voice query.For example, the media guidance application may select the word“Boston,” after initially selecting the word “meant.” In someembodiments, the media guidance application may determine a thirdcandidate pronunciation time for the third candidate word in the thirdvoice query. In some embodiments, the media guidance application maydetermine whether the first candidate pronunciation time matches thethird candidate pronunciation time. In some embodiments, in response todetermining that the first candidate pronunciation time matches thethird candidate pronunciation time, the media guidance application maygenerate a fourth voice query based on the first set of words and thefirst pronunciation rate, wherein the first candidate word in the firstset of words is replaced with the third candidate word. In someembodiments, the media guidance application may generate for display oneor more search results for the first and second voice queries based onthe fourth voice query.

Alternatively, in some embodiments, in response to determining that thefirst candidate pronunciation time does not match the second candidatepronunciation time, the media guidance application may select a thirdcandidate word from the first set of words in the first voice query 102.In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determine athird candidate pronunciation time for the third candidate word in thefirst voice query 102. In some embodiments, the media guidanceapplication may select a fourth candidate word from the second set ofwords in the third voice query. In some embodiments, the media guidanceapplication may determine a fourth candidate pronunciation time for thefourth candidate word in the third voice query. In some embodiments, themedia guidance application may determine whether the third candidatepronunciation time matches the fourth candidate pronunciation time. Insome embodiments, in response to determining that the third candidatepronunciation time matches the fourth candidate pronunciation time, themedia guidance application may generate a fourth voice query based onthe first set of words and the first pronunciation rate, wherein thethird candidate word in the first set of words is replaced with thefourth candidate word. In some embodiments, the media guidanceapplication may generate for display one or more search results for thefirst and second voice queries based on the fourth voice query.

In order to determine whether the first candidate pronunciation timematches the second candidate pronunciation time, in some embodiments,the media guidance application may receive a threshold deviation time.The media guidance application may receive the threshold deviation timefrom storage 408, media content source 516, or media guidance datasource 518. For example, the media guidance application may receive a 5ms threshold deviation time. In some embodiments, the media guidanceapplication may determine a time difference between the first candidatepronunciation time and the second candidate pronunciation time. Forexample, the media guidance application may determine that the word“Austin” has a pronunciation time of 500 ms and the word “Boston” has apronunciation time of 503 ms thus the time difference would be 3 ms. Insome embodiments, the media guidance application may determine whetherthe time difference between the first candidate pronunciation time andthe second candidate pronunciation time is less than the thresholddeviation time. For example, the media guidance application maydetermine that 3 ms time difference is less than the 5 ms thresholddeviation time. In some embodiments, in response to determining that thetime difference is less than the threshold deviation time, determinethat the first candidate pronunciation time matches the second candidatepronunciation time.

While generating for display one or more search results for the firstand second voice queries based on the fourth voice query, in someembodiments, the media guidance application may generate for display thefourth voice query. The media guidance application may use display 412to generate for display the fourth voice query. For example, the mediaguidance application may display to the user the corrected query “Whenis the Boston team playing?” for the user to confirm that the query is acorrect one. In some embodiments, the media guidance application maypresent the user with a first selectable option to indicate that thefourth voice query is correct and a second selectable option to indicatethat the fourth voice query is incorrect. For example, the mediaguidance application may display a selectable option to confirm that thefourth voice query is correct and a selectable option to state thefourth voice query is wrong. In some embodiments, the media guidanceapplication may receive a user selection of the first selectable optionto indicate that the fourth voice query is correct. The media guidanceapplication may use user input interface 410 to receive the userselection of the first selectable option. For example, the mediaguidance application may receive the indication that the user selectedthe selectable option to confirm that the fourth voice query is correct.In some embodiments, the media guidance application may in response toreceiving the user selection of the first selectable option, generatefor display one or more search results for the first and second voicequeries based on the fourth voice query.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may receive a userselection of the second selectable option to indicate that the fourthvoice query is incorrect. The media guidance application may use userinput interface 410 to receive the user selection of the secondselectable option. For example, the media guidance application mayreceive the indication that the user selected the selectable option tostate that the fourth voice query is wrong. In some embodiments, themedia guidance application may in response to receiving the userselection of the second selectable option, request the user to inputanother voice query. For example, the media guidance application maydisplay a message prompting the user for a repeated query. In someembodiments, the media guidance application may receive a fifth voicequery from the user. For example, the media guidance application mayreceive the fifth voice query of the user slowly saying “Boston.” Insome embodiments, media guidance application may determine a fifth setof words in the fifth voice query.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determine afifth pronunciation time taken by the user for the fifth voice query. Insome embodiments, the media guidance application may calculate a fifthpronunciation rate of the fifth voice query based on a fifth number ofwords in the fifth set of words and based on the fifth pronunciationtime. In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determinewhether the fifth pronunciation rate is lower than the firstpronunciation rate. In some embodiments, the media guidance applicationmay, in response to determining that the fifth pronunciation rate islower than the first pronunciation rate, generate a sixth voice querybased on the fifth set of words and the first pronunciation rate. Insome embodiments, the media guidance application may select a thirdcandidate word from the first set of words in the first voice query 102.In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determine athird candidate pronunciation time for the third candidate word in thefirst voice query 102. In some embodiments, the media guidanceapplication may select a fourth candidate word from the fourth set ofwords in the sixth voice query. In some embodiments, the media guidanceapplication may determine a fourth candidate pronunciation time for thefourth candidate word in the sixth voice query.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determinewhether the third candidate pronunciation time matches the fourthcandidate pronunciation time. In some embodiments, the media guidanceapplication may, in response to determining that the third candidatepronunciation time matches the fourth candidate pronunciation time,generate a seventh voice query based on the first set of words and thefirst pronunciation rate, wherein the third candidate word in the firstset of words is replaced with the fourth candidate word. In someembodiments, the media guidance application may generate for display oneor more search results for the first and fifth voice queries based onthe sixth voice query.

The amount of content available to users in any given content deliverysystem can be substantial. Consequently, many users desire a form ofmedia guidance through an interface that allows users to efficientlynavigate content selections and easily identify content that they maydesire. An application that provides such guidance is referred to hereinas an interactive media guidance application or, sometimes, a mediaguidance application or a guidance application.

Interactive media guidance applications may take various forms dependingon the content for which they provide guidance. One typical type ofmedia guidance application is an interactive television program guide.Interactive television program guides (sometimes referred to aselectronic program guides) are well-known guidance applications that,among other things, allow users to navigate among and locate many typesof content or media assets. Interactive media guidance applications maygenerate graphical user interface screens that enable a user to navigateamong, locate and select content. As referred to herein, the terms“media asset” and “content” should be understood to mean anelectronically consumable user asset, such as television programming, aswell as pay-per-view programs, on-demand programs (as in video-on-demand(VOD) systems), Internet content (e.g., streaming content, downloadablecontent, Webcasts, etc.), video clips, audio, content information,pictures, rotating images, documents, playlists, websites, articles,books, electronic books, blogs, chat sessions, social media,applications, games, and/or any other media or multimedia and/orcombination of the same. Guidance applications also allow users tonavigate among and locate content. As referred to herein, the term“multimedia” should be understood to mean content that utilizes at leasttwo different content forms described above, for example, text, audio,images, video, or interactivity content forms. Content may be recorded,played, displayed or accessed by user equipment devices, but can also bepart of a live performance.

The media guidance application and/or any instructions for performingany of the embodiments discussed herein may be encoded on computerreadable media. Computer readable media includes any media capable ofstoring data. The computer readable media may be transitory, including,but not limited to, propagating electrical or electromagnetic signals,or may be non-transitory including, but not limited to, volatile andnon-volatile computer memory or storage devices such as a hard disk,floppy disk, USB drive, DVD, CD, media cards, register memory, processorcaches, Random Access Memory (“RAM”), etc.

With the advent of the Internet, mobile computing, and high-speedwireless networks, users are accessing media on user equipment deviceson which they traditionally did not. As referred to herein, the phrase“user equipment device,” “user equipment,” “user device,” “electronicdevice,” “electronic equipment,” “media equipment device,” or “mediadevice” should be understood to mean any device for accessing thecontent described above, such as a television, a Smart TV, a set-topbox, an integrated receiver decoder (IRD) for handling satellitetelevision, a digital storage device, a digital media receiver (DMR), adigital media adapter (DMA), a streaming media device, a DVD player, aDVD recorder, a connected DVD, a local media server, a BLU-RAY player, aBLU-RAY recorder, a personal computer (PC), a laptop computer, a tabletcomputer, a WebTV box, a personal computer television (PC/TV), a PCmedia server, a PC media center, a hand-held computer, a stationarytelephone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a mobile telephone, aportable video player, a portable music player, a portable gamingmachine, a smart phone, or any other television equipment, computingequipment, or wireless device, and/or combination of the same. In someembodiments, the user equipment device may have a front facing screenand a rear facing screen, multiple front screens, or multiple angledscreens. In some embodiments, the user equipment device may have a frontfacing camera and/or a rear facing camera. On these user equipmentdevices, users may be able to navigate among and locate the same contentavailable through a television. Consequently, media guidance may beavailable on these devices, as well. The guidance provided may be forcontent available only through a television, for content available onlythrough one or more of other types of user equipment devices, or forcontent available both through a television and one or more of the othertypes of user equipment devices. The media guidance applications may beprovided as on-line applications (i.e., provided on a web-site), or asstand-alone applications or clients on user equipment devices. Variousdevices and platforms that may implement media guidance applications aredescribed in more detail below.

One of the functions of the media guidance application is to providemedia guidance data to users. As referred to herein, the phrase “mediaguidance data” or “guidance data” should be understood to mean any datarelated to content or data used in operating the guidance application.For example, the guidance data may include program information, guidanceapplication settings, user preferences, user profile information, medialistings, media-related information (e.g., broadcast times, broadcastchannels, titles, descriptions, ratings information (e.g., parentalcontrol ratings, critic's ratings, etc.), genre or category information,actor information, logo data for broadcasters' or providers' logos,etc.), media format (e.g., standard definition, high definition, 3D,etc.), on-demand information, blogs, websites, and any other type ofguidance data that is helpful for a user to navigate among and locatedesired content selections.

FIGS. 2-3 show illustrative display screens that may be used to providemedia guidance data. The display screens shown in FIGS. 2-3 may beimplemented on any suitable user equipment device or platform. While thedisplays of FIGS. 2-3 are illustrated as full screen displays, they mayalso be fully or partially overlaid over content being displayed. A usermay indicate a desire to access content information by selecting aselectable option provided in a display screen (e.g., a menu option, alistings option, an icon, a hyperlink, etc.) or pressing a dedicatedbutton (e.g., a GUIDE button) on a remote control or other user inputinterface or device. In response to the user's indication, the mediaguidance application may provide a display screen with media guidancedata organized in one of several ways, such as by time and channel in agrid, by time, by channel, by source, by content type, by category(e.g., movies, sports, news, children, or other categories ofprogramming), or other predefined, user-defined, or other organizationcriteria.

FIG. 2 shows illustrative grid of a program listings display 200arranged by time and channel that also enables access to different typesof content in a single display. Display 200 may include grid 202 with:(1) a column of channel/content type identifiers 204, where eachchannel/content type identifier (which is a cell in the column)identifies a different channel or content type available; and (2) a rowof time identifiers 206, where each time identifier (which is a cell inthe row) identifies a time block of programming. Grid 202 also includescells of program listings, such as program listing 208, where eachlisting provides the title of the program provided on the listing'sassociated channel and time. With a user input device, a user can selectprogram listings by moving highlight region 210. Information relating tothe program listing selected by highlight region 210 may be provided inprogram information region 212. Region 212 may include, for example, theprogram title, the program description, the time the program is provided(if applicable), the channel the program is on (if applicable), theprogram's rating, and other desired information.

In addition to providing access to linear programming (e.g., contentthat is scheduled to be transmitted to a plurality of user equipmentdevices at a predetermined time and is provided according to aschedule), the media guidance application also provides access tonon-linear programming (e.g., content accessible to a user equipmentdevice at any time and is not provided according to a schedule).Non-linear programming may include content from different contentsources including on-demand content (e.g., VOD), Internet content (e.g.,streaming media, downloadable media, etc.), locally stored content(e.g., content stored on any user equipment device described above orother storage device), or other time-independent content. On-demandcontent may include movies or any other content provided by a particularcontent provider (e.g., HBO On Demand providing “The Sopranos” and “CurbYour Enthusiasm”). HBO ON DEMAND is a service mark owned by Time WarnerCompany L.P. et al. and THE SOPRANOS and CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM aretrademarks owned by the Home Box Office, Inc. Internet content mayinclude web events, such as a chat session or Webcast, or contentavailable on-demand as streaming content or downloadable content throughan Internet web site or other Internet access (e.g. FTP).

Grid 202 may provide media guidance data for non-linear programmingincluding on-demand listing 214, recorded content listing 216, andInternet content listing 218. A display combining media guidance datafor content from different types of content sources is sometimesreferred to as a “mixed-media” display. Various permutations of thetypes of media guidance data that may be displayed that are differentthan display 200 may be based on user selection or guidance applicationdefinition (e.g., a display of only recorded and broadcast listings,only on-demand and broadcast listings, etc.). As illustrated, listings214, 216, and 218 are shown as spanning the entire time block displayedin grid 202 to indicate that selection of these listings may provideaccess to a display dedicated to on-demand listings, recorded listings,or Internet listings, respectively. In some embodiments, listings forthese content types may be included directly in grid 202. Additionalmedia guidance data may be displayed in response to the user selectingone of the navigational icons 220. (Pressing an arrow key on a userinput device may affect the display in a similar manner as selectingnavigational icons 220.)

Display 200 may also include video region 222, and options region 226.Video region 222 may allow the user to view and/or preview programs thatare currently available, will be available, or were available to theuser. The content of video region 222 may correspond to, or beindependent from, one of the listings displayed in grid 202. Griddisplays including a video region are sometimes referred to aspicture-in-guide (PIG) displays. PIG displays and their functionalitiesare described in greater detail in Satterfield et al. U.S. Pat. No.6,564,378, issued May 13, 2003 and Yuen et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,239,794,issued May 29, 2001, which are hereby incorporated by reference hereinin their entireties. PIG displays may be included in other mediaguidance application display screens of the embodiments describedherein.

Options region 226 may allow the user to access different types ofcontent, media guidance application displays, and/or media guidanceapplication features. Options region 226 may be part of display 200 (andother display screens described herein), or may be invoked by a user byselecting an on-screen option or pressing a dedicated or assignablebutton on a user input device. The selectable options within optionsregion 226 may concern features related to program listings in grid 202or may include options available from a main menu display. Featuresrelated to program listings may include searching for other air times orways of receiving a program, recording a program, enabling seriesrecording of a program, setting program and/or channel as a favorite,purchasing a program, or other features. Options available from a mainmenu display may include search options, VOD options, parental controloptions, Internet options, cloud-based options, device synchronizationoptions, second screen device options, options to access various typesof media guidance data displays, options to subscribe to a premiumservice, options to edit a user's profile, options to access a browseoverlay, or other options.

The media guidance application may be personalized based on a user'spreferences. A personalized media guidance application allows a user tocustomize displays and features to create a personalized “experience”with the media guidance application. This personalized experience may becreated by allowing a user to input these customizations and/or by themedia guidance application monitoring user activity to determine varioususer preferences. Users may access their personalized guidanceapplication by logging in or otherwise identifying themselves to theguidance application. Customization of the media guidance applicationmay be made in accordance with a user profile. The customizations mayinclude varying presentation schemes (e.g., color scheme of displays,font size of text, etc.), aspects of content listings displayed (e.g.,only HDTV or only 3D programming, user-specified broadcast channelsbased on favorite channel selections, re-ordering the display ofchannels, recommended content, etc.), desired recording features (e.g.,recording or series recordings for particular users, recording quality,etc.), parental control settings, customized presentation of Internetcontent (e.g., presentation of social media content, e-mail,electronically delivered articles, etc.) and other desiredcustomizations.

The media guidance application may allow a user to provide user profileinformation or may automatically compile user profile information. Themedia guidance application may, for example, monitor the content theuser accesses and/or other interactions the user may have with theguidance application. Additionally, the media guidance application mayobtain all or part of other user profiles that are related to aparticular user (e.g., from other web sites on the Internet the useraccesses, such as www.Tivo.com, from other media guidance applicationsthe user accesses, from other interactive applications the useraccesses, from another user equipment device of the user, etc.), and/orobtain information about the user from other sources that the mediaguidance application may access. As a result, a user can be providedwith a unified guidance application experience across the user'sdifferent user equipment devices. This type of user experience isdescribed in greater detail below in connection with FIG. 5. Additionalpersonalized media guidance application features are described ingreater detail in Ellis et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No.2005/0251827, filed Jul. 11, 2005, Boyer et al., U.S. Pat. No.7,165,098, issued Jan. 16, 2007, and Ellis et al., U.S. PatentApplication Publication No. 2002/0174430, filed Feb. 21, 2002, which arehereby incorporated by reference herein in their entireties.

Another display arrangement for providing media guidance is shown inFIG. 3. Video mosaic display 300 includes selectable options 302 forcontent information organized based on content type, genre, and/or otherorganization criteria. In display 300, television listings option 304 isselected, thus providing listings 306, 308, 310, and 312 as broadcastprogram listings. In display 300 the listings may provide graphicalimages including cover art, still images from the content, video clippreviews, live video from the content, or other types of content thatindicate to a user the content being described by the media guidancedata in the listing. Each of the graphical listings may also beaccompanied by text to provide further information about the contentassociated with the listing. For example, listing 308 may include morethan one portion, including media portion 314 and text portion 316.Media portion 314 and/or text portion 316 may be selectable to viewcontent in full-screen or to view information related to the contentdisplayed in media portion 314 (e.g., to view listings for the channelthat the video is displayed on).

The listings in display 300 are of different sizes (i.e., listing 306 islarger than listings 308, 310, and 312), but if desired, all thelistings may be the same size. Listings may be of different sizes orgraphically accentuated to indicate degrees of interest to the user orto emphasize certain content, as desired by the content provider orbased on user preferences. Various systems and methods for graphicallyaccentuating content listings are discussed in, for example, Yates, U.S.Patent Application Publication No. 2010/0153885, filed Nov. 12, 2009,which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

Users may access content and the media guidance application (and itsdisplay screens described above and below) from one or more of theiruser equipment devices. FIG. 4 shows a generalized embodiment ofillustrative user equipment device 400. More specific implementations ofuser equipment devices are discussed below in connection with FIG. 5.User equipment device 400 may receive content and data via input/output(hereinafter “I/O”) path 402. I/O path 402 may provide content (e.g.,broadcast programming, on-demand programming, Internet content, contentavailable over a local area network (LAN) or wide area network (WAN),and/or other content) and data to control circuitry 404, which includesprocessing circuitry 406 and storage 408. Control circuitry 404 may beused to send and receive commands, requests, and other suitable datausing I/O path 402. I/O path 402 may connect control circuitry 404 (andspecifically processing circuitry 406) to one or more communicationspaths (described below). I/O functions may be provided by one or more ofthese communications paths, but are shown as a single path in FIG. 4 toavoid overcomplicating the drawing.

Control circuitry 404 may be based on any suitable processing circuitrysuch as processing circuitry 406. As referred to herein, processingcircuitry should be understood to mean circuitry based on one or moremicroprocessors, microcontrollers, digital signal processors,programmable logic devices, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs),application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), etc., and may includea multi-core processor (e.g., dual-core, quad-core, hexa-core, or anysuitable number of cores) or supercomputer. In some embodiments,processing circuitry may be distributed across multiple separateprocessors or processing units, for example, multiple of the same typeof processing units (e.g., two Intel Core i7 processors) or multipledifferent processors (e.g., an Intel Core i5 processor and an Intel Corei7 processor). In some embodiments, control circuitry 404 executesinstructions for a media guidance application stored in memory (i.e.,storage 408). Specifically, control circuitry 404 may be instructed bythe media guidance application to perform the functions discussed aboveand below. For example, the media guidance application may provideinstructions to control circuitry 404 to generate the media guidancedisplays. In some implementations, any action performed by controlcircuitry 404 may be based on instructions received from the mediaguidance application.

In client-server based embodiments, control circuitry 404 may includecommunications circuitry suitable for communicating with a guidanceapplication server or other networks or servers. The instructions forcarrying out the above mentioned functionality may be stored on theguidance application server. Communications circuitry may include acable modem, an integrated services digital network (ISDN) modem, adigital subscriber line (DSL) modem, a telephone modem, Ethernet card,or a wireless modem for communications with other equipment, or anyother suitable communications circuitry. Such communications may involvethe Internet or any other suitable communications networks or paths(which is described in more detail in connection with FIG. 5). Inaddition, communications circuitry may include circuitry that enablespeer-to-peer communication of user equipment devices, or communicationof user equipment devices in locations remote from each other (describedin more detail below).

Memory may be an electronic storage device provided as storage 408 thatis part of control circuitry 404. As referred to herein, the phrase“electronic storage device” or “storage device” should be understood tomean any device for storing electronic data, computer software, orfirmware, such as random-access memory, read-only memory, hard drives,optical drives, digital video disc (DVD) recorders, compact disc (CD)recorders, BLU-RAY disc (BD) recorders, BLU-RAY 3D disc recorders,digital video recorders (DVR, sometimes called a personal videorecorder, or PVR), solid state devices, quantum storage devices, gamingconsoles, gaming media, or any other suitable fixed or removable storagedevices, and/or any combination of the same. Storage 408 may be used tostore various types of content described herein as well as mediaguidance data described above. Nonvolatile memory may also be used(e.g., to launch a boot-up routine and other instructions). Cloud-basedstorage, described in relation to FIG. 5, may be used to supplementstorage 408 or instead of storage 408.

Control circuitry 404 may include video generating circuitry and tuningcircuitry, such as one or more analog tuners, one or more MPEG-2decoders or other digital decoding circuitry, high-definition tuners, orany other suitable tuning or video circuits or combinations of suchcircuits. Encoding circuitry (e.g., for converting over-the-air, analog,or digital signals to MPEG signals for storage) may also be provided.Control circuitry 404 may also include scaler circuitry for upconvertingand downconverting content into the preferred output format of the userequipment 400. Circuitry 404 may also include digital-to-analogconverter circuitry and analog-to-digital converter circuitry forconverting between digital and analog signals. The tuning and encodingcircuitry may be used by the user equipment device to receive and todisplay, to play, or to record content. The tuning and encodingcircuitry may also be used to receive guidance data. The circuitrydescribed herein, including for example, the tuning, video generating,encoding, decoding, encrypting, decrypting, scaler, and analog/digitalcircuitry, may be implemented using software running on one or moregeneral purpose or specialized processors. Multiple tuners may beprovided to handle simultaneous tuning functions (e.g., watch and recordfunctions, picture-in-picture (PIP) functions, multiple-tuner recording,etc.). If storage 408 is provided as a separate device from userequipment 400, the tuning and encoding circuitry (including multipletuners) may be associated with storage 408.

A user may send instructions to control circuitry 404 using user inputinterface 410. User input interface 410 may be any suitable userinterface, such as a remote control, mouse, trackball, keypad, keyboard,touch screen, touchpad, stylus input, joystick, voice recognitioninterface, or other user input interfaces. Display 412 may be providedas a stand-alone device or integrated with other elements of userequipment device 400. For example, display 412 may be a touchscreen ortouch-sensitive display. In such circumstances, user input interface 410may be integrated with or combined with display 412. Display 412 may beone or more of a monitor, a television, a liquid crystal display (LCD)for a mobile device, amorphous silicon display, low temperature polysilicon display, electronic ink display, electrophoretic display, activematrix display, electro-wetting display, electrofluidic display, cathoderay tube display, light-emitting diode display, electroluminescentdisplay, plasma display panel, high-performance addressing display,thin-film transistor display, organic light-emitting diode display,surface-conduction electron-emitter display (SED), laser television,carbon nanotubes, quantum dot display, interferometric modulatordisplay, or any other suitable equipment for displaying visual images.In some embodiments, display 412 may be HDTV-capable. In someembodiments, display 412 may be a 3D display, and the interactive mediaguidance application and any suitable content may be displayed in 3D. Avideo card or graphics card may generate the output to the display 412.The video card may offer various functions such as accelerated renderingof 3D scenes and 2D graphics, MPEG-2/MPEG-4 decoding, TV output, or theability to connect multiple monitors. The video card may be anyprocessing circuitry described above in relation to control circuitry404. The video card may be integrated with the control circuitry 404.Speakers 414 may be provided as integrated with other elements of userequipment device 400 or may be stand-alone units. The audio component ofvideos and other content displayed on display 412 may be played throughspeakers 414. In some embodiments, the audio may be distributed to areceiver (not shown), which processes and outputs the audio via speakers414.

The guidance application may be implemented using any suitablearchitecture. For example, it may be a stand-alone applicationwholly-implemented on user equipment device 400. In such an approach,instructions of the application are stored locally (e.g., in storage408), and data for use by the application is downloaded on a periodicbasis (e.g., from an out-of-band feed, from an Internet resource, orusing another suitable approach). Control circuitry 404 may retrieveinstructions of the application from storage 408 and process theinstructions to generate any of the displays discussed herein. Based onthe processed instructions, control circuitry 404 may determine whataction to perform when input is received from input interface 410. Forexample, movement of a cursor on a display up/down may be indicated bythe processed instructions when input interface 410 indicates that anup/down button was selected.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application is a client-serverbased application. Data for use by a thick or thin client implemented onuser equipment device 400 is retrieved on-demand by issuing requests toa server remote to the user equipment device 400. In one example of aclient-server based guidance application, control circuitry 404 runs aweb browser that interprets web pages provided by a remote server. Forexample, the remote server may store the instructions for theapplication in a storage device. The remote server may process thestored instructions using circuitry (e.g., control circuitry 404) andgenerate the displays discussed above and below. The client device mayreceive the displays generated by the remote server and may display thecontent of the displays locally on equipment device 400. This way, theprocessing of the instructions is performed remotely by the server whilethe resulting displays are provided locally on equipment device 400.Equipment device 400 may receive inputs from the user via inputinterface 410 and transmit those inputs to the remote server forprocessing and generating the corresponding displays. For example,equipment device 400 may transmit a communication to the remote serverindicating that an up/down button was selected via input interface 410.The remote server may process instructions in accordance with that inputand generate a display of the application corresponding to the input(e.g., a display that moves a cursor up/down). The generated display isthen transmitted to equipment device 400 for presentation to the user.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application is downloaded andinterpreted or otherwise run by an interpreter or virtual machine (runby control circuitry 404). In some embodiments, the guidance applicationmay be encoded in the ETV Binary Interchange Format (EBIF), received bycontrol circuitry 404 as part of a suitable feed, and interpreted by auser agent running on control circuitry 404. For example, the guidanceapplication may be an EBIF application. In some embodiments, theguidance application may be defined by a series of JAVA-based files thatare received and run by a local virtual machine or other suitablemiddleware executed by control circuitry 404. In some of suchembodiments (e.g., those employing MPEG-2 or other digital mediaencoding schemes), the guidance application may be, for example, encodedand transmitted in an MPEG-2 object carousel with the MPEG audio andvideo packets of a program.

User equipment device 400 of FIG. 4 can be implemented in system 500 ofFIG. 5 as user television equipment 502, user computer equipment 504,wireless user communications device 506, or any other type of userequipment suitable for accessing content, such as a non-portable gamingmachine. For simplicity, these devices may be referred to hereincollectively as user equipment or user equipment devices, and may besubstantially similar to user equipment devices described above. Userequipment devices, on which a media guidance application may beimplemented, may function as a standalone device or may be part of anetwork of devices. Various network configurations of devices may beimplemented and are discussed in more detail below.

A user equipment device utilizing at least some of the system featuresdescribed above in connection with FIG. 4 may not be classified solelyas user television equipment 502, user computer equipment 504, or awireless user communications device 506. For example, user televisionequipment 502 may, like some user computer equipment 504, beInternet-enabled allowing for access to Internet content, while usercomputer equipment 504 may, like some television equipment 502, includea tuner allowing for access to television programming. The mediaguidance application may have the same layout on various different typesof user equipment or may be tailored to the display capabilities of theuser equipment. For example, on user computer equipment 504, theguidance application may be provided as a web site accessed by a webbrowser. In another example, the guidance application may be scaled downfor wireless user communications devices 506.

In system 500, there is typically more than one of each type of userequipment device but only one of each is shown in FIG. 5 to avoidovercomplicating the drawing. In addition, each user may utilize morethan one type of user equipment device and also more than one of eachtype of user equipment device.

In some embodiments, a user equipment device (e.g., user televisionequipment 502, user computer equipment 504, wireless user communicationsdevice 506) may be referred to as a “second screen device.” For example,a second screen device may supplement content presented on a first userequipment device. The content presented on the second screen device maybe any suitable content that supplements the content presented on thefirst device. In some embodiments, the second screen device provides aninterface for adjusting settings and display preferences of the firstdevice. In some embodiments, the second screen device is configured forinteracting with other second screen devices or for interacting with asocial network. The second screen device can be located in the same roomas the first device, a different room from the first device but in thesame house or building, or in a different building from the firstdevice.

The user may also set various settings to maintain consistent mediaguidance application settings across in-home devices and remote devices.Settings include those described herein, as well as channel and programfavorites, programming preferences that the guidance applicationutilizes to make programming recommendations, display preferences, andother desirable guidance settings. For example, if a user sets a channelas a favorite on, for example, the web site www.Tivo.com on theirpersonal computer at their office, the same channel would appear as afavorite on the user's in-home devices (e.g., user television equipmentand user computer equipment) as well as the user's mobile devices, ifdesired. Therefore, changes made on one user equipment device can changethe guidance experience on another user equipment device, regardless ofwhether they are the same or a different type of user equipment device.In addition, the changes made may be based on settings input by a user,as well as user activity monitored by the guidance application.

The user equipment devices may be coupled to communications network 514.Namely, user television equipment 502, user computer equipment 504, andwireless user communications device 506 are coupled to communicationsnetwork 514 via communications paths 508, 510, and 512, respectively.Communications network 514 may be one or more networks including theInternet, a mobile phone network, mobile voice or data network (e.g., a4G or LTE network), cable network, public switched telephone network, orother types of communications network or combinations of communicationsnetworks. Paths 508, 510, and 512 may separately or together include oneor more communications paths, such as, a satellite path, a fiber-opticpath, a cable path, a path that supports Internet communications (e.g.,IPTV), free-space connections (e.g., for broadcast or other wirelesssignals), or any other suitable wired or wireless communications path orcombination of such paths. Path 512 is drawn with dotted lines toindicate that in the exemplary embodiment shown in FIG. 5 it is awireless path and paths 508 and 510 are drawn as solid lines to indicatethey are wired paths (although these paths may be wireless paths, ifdesired). Communications with the user equipment devices may be providedby one or more of these communications paths, but are shown as a singlepath in FIG. 5 to avoid overcomplicating the drawing.

Although communications paths are not drawn between user equipmentdevices, these devices may communicate directly with each other viacommunication paths, such as those described above in connection withpaths 508, 510, and 512, as well as other short-range point-to-pointcommunication paths, such as USB cables, IEEE 1394 cables, wirelesspaths (e.g., Bluetooth, infrared, IEEE 802-11x, etc.), or othershort-range communication via wired or wireless paths. BLUETOOTH is acertification mark owned by Bluetooth SIG, INC. The user equipmentdevices may also communicate with each other directly through anindirect path via communications network 514.

System 500 includes content source 516 and media guidance data source518 coupled to communications network 514 via communication paths 520and 522, respectively. Paths 520 and 522 may include any of thecommunication paths described above in connection with paths 508, 510,and 512. Communications with the content source 516 and media guidancedata source 518 may be exchanged over one or more communications paths,but are shown as a single path in FIG. 5 to avoid overcomplicating thedrawing. In addition, there may be more than one of each of contentsource 516 and media guidance data source 518, but only one of each isshown in FIG. 5 to avoid overcomplicating the drawing. (The differenttypes of each of these sources are discussed below.) If desired, contentsource 516 and media guidance data source 518 may be integrated as onesource device. Although communications between sources 516 and 518 withuser equipment devices 502, 504, and 506 are shown as throughcommunications network 514, in some embodiments, sources 516 and 518 maycommunicate directly with user equipment devices 502, 504, and 506 viacommunication paths (not shown) such as those described above inconnection with paths 508, 510, and 512.

Content source 516 may include one or more types of content distributionequipment including a television distribution facility, cable systemheadend, satellite distribution facility, programming sources (e.g.,television broadcasters, such as NBC, ABC, HBO, etc.), intermediatedistribution facilities and/or servers, Internet providers, on-demandmedia servers, and other content providers. NBC is a trademark owned bythe National Broadcasting Company, Inc., ABC is a trademark owned by theAmerican Broadcasting Company, Inc., and HBO is a trademark owned by theHome Box Office, Inc. Content source 516 may be the originator ofcontent (e.g., a television broadcaster, a Webcast provider, etc.) ormay not be the originator of content (e.g., an on-demand contentprovider, an Internet provider of content of broadcast programs fordownloading, etc.). Content source 516 may include cable sources,satellite providers, on-demand providers, Internet providers,over-the-top content providers, or other providers of content. Contentsource 516 may also include a remote media server used to storedifferent types of content (including video content selected by a user),in a location remote from any of the user equipment devices. Systems andmethods for remote storage of content, and providing remotely storedcontent to user equipment are discussed in greater detail in connectionwith Ellis et al., U.S. Pat. No. 7,761,892, issued Jul. 20, 2010, whichis hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

Media guidance data source 518 may provide media guidance data, such asthe media guidance data described above. Media guidance data may beprovided to the user equipment devices using any suitable approach. Insome embodiments, the guidance application may be a stand-aloneinteractive television program guide that receives program guide datavia a data feed (e.g., a continuous feed or trickle feed). Programschedule data and other guidance data may be provided to the userequipment on a television channel sideband, using an in-band digitalsignal, using an out-of-band digital signal, or by any other suitabledata transmission technique. Program schedule data and other mediaguidance data may be provided to user equipment on multiple analog ordigital television channels.

In some embodiments, guidance data from media guidance data source 518may be provided to users' equipment using a client-server approach. Forexample, a user equipment device may pull media guidance data from aserver, or a server may push media guidance data to a user equipmentdevice. In some embodiments, a guidance application client residing onthe user's equipment may initiate sessions with source 518 to obtainguidance data when needed, e.g., when the guidance data is out of dateor when the user equipment device receives a request from the user toreceive data. Media guidance may be provided to the user equipment withany suitable frequency (e.g., continuously, daily, a user-specifiedperiod of time, a system-specified period of time, in response to arequest from user equipment, etc.). Media guidance data source 518 mayprovide user equipment devices 502, 504, and 506 the media guidanceapplication itself or software updates for the media guidanceapplication.

In some embodiments, the media guidance data may include viewer data.For example, the viewer data may include current and/or historical useractivity information (e.g., what content the user typically watches,what times of day the user watches content, whether the user interactswith a social network, at what times the user interacts with a socialnetwork to post information, what types of content the user typicallywatches (e.g., pay TV or free TV), mood, brain activity information,etc.). The media guidance data may also include subscription data. Forexample, the subscription data may identify to which sources or servicesa given user subscribes and/or to which sources or services the givenuser has previously subscribed but later terminated access (e.g.,whether the user subscribes to premium channels, whether the user hasadded a premium level of services, whether the user has increasedInternet speed). In some embodiments, the viewer data and/or thesubscription data may identify patterns of a given user for a period ofmore than one year. The media guidance data may include a model (e.g., asurvivor model) used for generating a score that indicates a likelihooda given user will terminate access to a service/source. For example, themedia guidance application may process the viewer data with thesubscription data using the model to generate a value or score thatindicates a likelihood of whether the given user will terminate accessto a particular service or source. In particular, a higher score mayindicate a higher level of confidence that the user will terminateaccess to a particular service or source. Based on the score, the mediaguidance application may generate promotions that entice the user tokeep the particular service or source indicated by the score as one towhich the user will likely terminate access.

Media guidance applications may be, for example, stand-aloneapplications implemented on user equipment devices. For example, themedia guidance application may be implemented as software or a set ofexecutable instructions which may be stored in storage 408, and executedby control circuitry 404 of a user equipment device 400. In someembodiments, media guidance applications may be client-serverapplications where only a client application resides on the userequipment device, and a server application resides on a remote server.For example, media guidance applications may be implemented partially asa client application on control circuitry 404 of user equipment device400 and partially on a remote server as a server application (e.g.,media guidance data source 518) running on control circuitry of theremote server. When executed by control circuitry of the remote server(such as media guidance data source 518), the media guidance applicationmay instruct the control circuitry to generate the guidance applicationdisplays and transmit the generated displays to the user equipmentdevices. The server application may instruct the control circuitry ofthe media guidance data source 518 to transmit data for storage on theuser equipment. The client application may instruct control circuitry ofthe receiving user equipment to generate the guidance applicationdisplays.

Content and/or media guidance data delivered to user equipment devices502, 504, and 506 may be over-the-top (OTT) content. OTT contentdelivery allows Internet-enabled user devices, including any userequipment device described above, to receive content that is transferredover the Internet, including any content described above, in addition tocontent received over cable or satellite connections. OTT content isdelivered via an Internet connection provided by an Internet serviceprovider (ISP), but a third party distributes the content. The ISP maynot be responsible for the viewing abilities, copyrights, orredistribution of the content, and may only transfer IP packets providedby the OTT content provider. Examples of OTT content providers includeYOUTUBE, NETFLIX, and HULU, which provide audio and video via IPpackets. Youtube is a trademark owned by Google Inc., Netflix is atrademark owned by Netflix Inc., and Hulu is a trademark owned by Hulu,LLC. OTT content providers may additionally or alternatively providemedia guidance data described above. In addition to content and/or mediaguidance data, providers of OTT content can distribute media guidanceapplications (e.g., web-based applications or cloud-based applications),or the content can be displayed by media guidance applications stored onthe user equipment device.

Media guidance system 500 is intended to illustrate a number ofapproaches, or network configurations, by which user equipment devicesand sources of content and guidance data may communicate with each otherfor the purpose of accessing content and providing media guidance. Theembodiments described herein may be applied in any one or a subset ofthese approaches, or in a system employing other approaches fordelivering content and providing media guidance. The following fourapproaches provide specific illustrations of the generalized example ofFIG. 5.

In one approach, user equipment devices may communicate with each otherwithin a home network. User equipment devices can communicate with eachother directly via short-range point-to-point communication schemesdescribed above, via indirect paths through a hub or other similardevice provided on a home network, or via communications network 514.Each of the multiple individuals in a single home may operate differentuser equipment devices on the home network. As a result, it may bedesirable for various media guidance information or settings to becommunicated between the different user equipment devices. For example,it may be desirable for users to maintain consistent media guidanceapplication settings on different user equipment devices within a homenetwork, as described in greater detail in Ellis et al., U.S. PatentPublication No. 2005/0251827, filed Jul. 11, 2005. Different types ofuser equipment devices in a home network may also communicate with eachother to transmit content. For example, a user may transmit content fromuser computer equipment to a portable video player or portable musicplayer.

In a second approach, users may have multiple types of user equipment bywhich they access content and obtain media guidance. For example, someusers may have home networks that are accessed by in-home and mobiledevices. Users may control in-home devices via a media guidanceapplication implemented on a remote device. For example, users mayaccess an online media guidance application on a website via a personalcomputer at their office, or a mobile device such as a PDA orweb-enabled mobile telephone. The user may set various settings (e.g.,recordings, reminders, or other settings) on the online guidanceapplication to control the user's in-home equipment. The online guidemay control the user's equipment directly, or by communicating with amedia guidance application on the user's in-home equipment. Varioussystems and methods for user equipment devices communicating, where theuser equipment devices are in locations remote from each other, isdiscussed in, for example, Ellis et al., U.S. Pat. No. 8,046,801, issuedOct. 25, 2011, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in itsentirety.

In a third approach, users of user equipment devices inside and outsidea home can use their media guidance application to communicate directlywith content source 516 to access content. Specifically, within a home,users of user television equipment 502 and user computer equipment 504may access the media guidance application to navigate among and locatedesirable content. Users may also access the media guidance applicationoutside of the home using wireless user communications devices 506 tonavigate among and locate desirable content.

In a fourth approach, user equipment devices may operate in a cloudcomputing environment to access cloud services. In a cloud computingenvironment, various types of computing services for content sharing,storage or distribution (e.g., video sharing sites or social networkingsites) are provided by a collection of network-accessible computing andstorage resources, referred to as “the cloud.” For example, the cloudcan include a collection of server computing devices, which may belocated centrally or at distributed locations, that provide cloud-basedservices to various types of users and devices connected via a networksuch as the Internet via communications network 514. These cloudresources may include one or more content sources 516 and one or moremedia guidance data sources 518. In addition or in the alternative, theremote computing sites may include other user equipment devices, such asuser television equipment 502, user computer equipment 504, and wirelessuser communications device 506. For example, the other user equipmentdevices may provide access to a stored copy of a video or a streamedvideo. In such embodiments, user equipment devices may operate in apeer-to-peer manner without communicating with a central server.

The cloud provides access to services, such as content storage, contentsharing, or social networking services, among other examples, as well asaccess to any content described above, for user equipment devices.Services can be provided in the cloud through cloud computing serviceproviders, or through other providers of online services. For example,the cloud-based services can include a content storage service, acontent sharing site, a social networking site, or other services viawhich user-sourced content is distributed for viewing by others onconnected devices. These cloud-based services may allow a user equipmentdevice to store content to the cloud and to receive content from thecloud rather than storing content locally and accessing locally storedcontent.

A user may use various content capture devices, such as camcorders,digital cameras with video mode, audio recorders, mobile phones, andhandheld computing devices, to record content. The user can uploadcontent to a content storage service on the cloud either directly, forexample, from user computer equipment 504 or wireless usercommunications device 506 having a content capture feature.Alternatively, the user can first transfer the content to a userequipment device, such as user computer equipment 504. The userequipment device storing the content uploads the content to the cloudusing a data transmission service on communications network 514. In someembodiments, the user equipment device itself is a cloud resource, andother user equipment devices can access the content directly from theuser equipment device on which the user stored the content.

Cloud resources may be accessed by a user equipment device using, forexample, a web browser, a media guidance application, a desktopapplication, a mobile application, and/or any combination of accessapplications of the same. The user equipment device may be a cloudclient that relies on cloud computing for application delivery, or theuser equipment device may have some functionality without access tocloud resources. For example, some applications running on the userequipment device may be cloud applications, i.e., applications deliveredas a service over the Internet, while other applications may be storedand run on the user equipment device. In some embodiments, a user devicemay receive content from multiple cloud resources simultaneously. Forexample, a user device can stream audio from one cloud resource whiledownloading content from a second cloud resource. Or a user device candownload content from multiple cloud resources for more efficientdownloading. In some embodiments, user equipment devices can use cloudresources for processing operations such as the processing operationsperformed by processing circuitry described in relation to FIG. 4.

As referred to herein, the term “in response to” refers to initiated asa result of. For example, a first action being performed in response toa second action may include interstitial steps between the first actionand the second action. As referred to herein, the term “directly inresponse to” refers to caused by. For example, a first action beingperformed directly in response to a second action may not includeinterstitial steps between the first action and the second action.

FIG. 6 depicts an illustrative flowchart of a process for correcting afirst voice query 102 based on a second voice query 108 with a lowerpronunciation rate by generating a third voice query, in accordance withsome embodiments of the disclosure. Process 600 may be executed bycontrol circuitry 404 (e.g., in a manner instructed to control circuitry404 by the media guidance application). Control circuitry 404 may bepart of remote server separated from the user by communication network514.

Process 600 begins at 602, when control circuitry 404 receives a firstvoice query 102 from a user. The first voice query 102 may be receivedvia user input interface 410. The first voice query 102 may be stored instorage 408.

At step 604, control circuitry 404 determines a first set of words inthe first voice query 102.

At step 606, control circuitry 404 determines a first pronunciation timetaken by the user for the first voice query 102.

At step 608, control circuitry 404 calculates a first pronunciation rateof the first voice query 102 based on a first number of words in thefirst set of words and based on the first pronunciation time.

At step 610, control circuitry 404 receives a second voice query 108from the user. The second voice query 108 may be received via user inputinterface 410. The second voice query 108 may be stored in storage 408.

At step 612, control circuitry 404 determines a second set of words inthe second voice query 108.

At step 614, control circuitry 404 determines a second pronunciationtime taken by the user for the second voice query 108.

At step 616, control circuitry 404 calculates a second pronunciationrate of the second voice query 108 based on a second number of words inthe second set of words and based on the second pronunciation time.

At step 618, control circuitry 404 determines whether the secondpronunciation rate is lower than the first pronunciation rate.

If control circuitry 404 determines that the second pronunciation rateis lower than the first pronunciation rate, process 600 continues tostep 620. At step 620, control circuitry 404 generates a third voicequery based on the second set of words and the first pronunciation rate.

If control circuitry 404 determines that the second pronunciation rateis not lower than the first pronunciation rate, process 600 continues tooptional step 622. At step 622, process 600 ends.

At step 624, control circuitry 404 selects a first candidate word fromthe first set of words in the first voice query 102.

At step 626, control circuitry 404 determines a first candidatepronunciation time for the first candidate word in the first voice query102.

At step 628, control circuitry 404 selects a second candidate word fromthe second set of words in the third voice query.

At step 630, control circuitry 404 determines a second candidatepronunciation time for the second candidate word in the third voicequery.

At step 632, control circuitry 404 determines whether the firstcandidate pronunciation time matches the second candidate pronunciationtime.

If at step 632 control circuitry 404 determines that the first candidatepronunciation time does not match the second candidate pronunciationtime, process 600 optionally continues to step 702 of process 700, step802 of process 800, or step 902 of process 900. At step 634, controlcircuitry 404 optionally continues to step 702 of process 700, step 802of process 800, or step 902 of process 900.

If at step 632 control circuitry 404 determines that the first candidatepronunciation time matches the second candidate pronunciation time,process 600 continues to step 636. At step 636, control circuitry 404generates a fourth voice query based on the first set of words and thefirst pronunciation rate, wherein the first candidate word in the firstset of words is replaced with the second candidate word.

At step 638, control circuitry 404 generates for display one or moresearch results for the first and second voice queries based on thefourth voice query. Control circuitry 404 may use display 412 togenerate the search results.

FIG. 7 depicts an illustrative flowchart of a process for, in responseto determining that the first candidate pronunciation time does notmatch the second candidate pronunciation time, selecting and processinga third candidate word from the first voice query 102, in accordancewith some embodiments of the disclosure. Process 700 may be executed bycontrol circuitry 404 (e.g., in a manner instructed to control circuitry404 by the media guidance application). Control circuitry 404 may bepart of remote server separated from the user by communication network514.

Process 700 starts at step 702 when control circuitry 404 selects athird candidate word from the first set of words in the first voicequery 102.

At step 704 control circuitry 404 determines a third candidatepronunciation time for the third candidate word in the first voice query102.

At step 706 control circuitry 404 determines whether the third candidatepronunciation time matches the second candidate pronunciation time.

If at step 706 control circuitry 404 determines that the third candidatepronunciation time does not match the second candidate pronunciationtime, process 700 optionally continues to step 702, step 802 of process800, or step 902 of process 900.

If at step 706 control circuitry 404 determines that the third candidatepronunciation time matches the second candidate pronunciation time,process 700 continues to step 708. At step 708 control circuitry 404generates a fourth voice query based on the first set of words and thefirst pronunciation rate, wherein the third candidate word in the firstset of words is replaced with the second candidate word.

At step 710 control circuitry 404 generates for display one or moresearch results for the first and second voice queries based on thefourth voice query. Control circuitry 404 may use display 412 togenerate the search results.

FIG. 8 depicts an illustrative flowchart of a process for, in responseto determining that the first candidate pronunciation time does notmatch the second candidate pronunciation time, selecting and processinga third candidate word from the second voice query 108, in accordancewith some embodiments of the disclosure. Process 800 may be executed bycontrol circuitry 404 (e.g., in a manner instructed to control circuitry404 by the media guidance application). Control circuitry 404 may bepart of remote server separated from the user by communication network514.

Process 800 starts at step 802 when control circuitry 404 selects athird candidate word from the second set of words in the third voicequery.

At step 804 control circuitry 404 determines a third candidatepronunciation time for the third candidate word in the third voicequery.

At step 806 control circuitry 404 determines whether the first candidatepronunciation time matches the third candidate pronunciation time.

If at step 806 control circuitry 404 determines that the first candidatepronunciation time does not match the third candidate pronunciationtime, process 800 optionally continues to step 702 of process 700, step802, or step 902 of process 900.

If at step 806 control circuitry 404 determines that the first candidatepronunciation time matches the third candidate pronunciation timeprocess 800 continues to step 808. At step 808 control circuitry 404generates a fourth voice query based on the first set of words and thefirst pronunciation rate, wherein the first candidate word in the firstset of words is replaced with the third candidate word.

At step 810 control circuitry 404 generates for display one or moresearch results for the first and second voice queries based on thefourth voice query. Control circuitry 404 may use display 412 togenerate the search results.

FIG. 9 depicts an illustrative flowchart of a process for, in responseto determining that the first candidate pronunciation time does notmatch the second candidate pronunciation time, selecting and processinga third candidate word from the first voice query 102 and a fourthcandidate word from the second voice query 108, in accordance with someembodiments of the disclosure. Process 900 may be executed by controlcircuitry 404 (e.g., in a manner instructed to control circuitry 404 bythe media guidance application). Control circuitry 404 may be part ofremote server separated from the user by communication network 514.

Process 900 starts at step 902 when control circuitry 404 selects athird candidate word from the first set of words in the first voicequery 102.

At step 904 control circuitry 404 determines a third candidatepronunciation time for the third candidate word in the first voice query102.

At step 906 control circuitry 404 selects a fourth candidate word fromthe second set of words in the third voice query.

At step 908 control circuitry 404 determines a fourth candidatepronunciation time for the fourth candidate word in the third voicequery.

At step 910 control circuitry 404 determines whether the third candidatepronunciation time matches the fourth candidate pronunciation time.

If at step 910 control circuitry 404 determines that the third candidatepronunciation time does not match the fourth candidate pronunciationtime, process 900 optionally continues to step 702 of process 700, step802 of process 800, or step 902.

If at step 910 control circuitry 404 determines that the third candidatepronunciation time matches the fourth candidate pronunciation time,process 900 continues to step 912. At step 912 control circuitry 404generates a fourth voice query based on the first set of words and thefirst pronunciation rate, wherein the third candidate word in the firstset of words is replaced with the fourth candidate word.

At step 914 control circuitry 404 generates for display one or moresearch results for the first and second voice queries based on thefourth voice query. Control circuitry 404 may use display 412 togenerate the search results.

FIG. 10 depicts an illustrative flowchart of a process for correcting avoice query based on a subsequent voice query with a lower pronunciationrate, in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure. Process1000 may be executed by control circuitry 404 (e.g., in a mannerinstructed to control circuitry 404 by the media guidance application).Control circuitry 404 may be part of remote server separated from theuser by communication network 514.

Process 1000 starts at step 1002 when control circuitry 404 calculates afirst pronunciation rate of a first voice query 102 from a user.

At step 1004 control circuitry 404 calculates a second pronunciationrate of a second voice query 108 from the user.

At step 1006 control circuitry 404 determines whether the secondpronunciation rate is lower than the first pronunciation rate.

If at step 1006 control circuitry 404 determines that the secondpronunciation rate is not lower than the first pronunciation rateprocess 1000 optionally continues to step 1008. At the optional step1008 control circuitry 404 may end process 1000.

If at step 1006 control circuitry 404 determines that the secondpronunciation rate is lower than the first pronunciation rate process1000 optionally continues to step 1010. At step 1010 control circuitry404 selects a first candidate word from the first voice query 102.

At step 1012 control circuitry 404 determines a first candidatepronunciation time for the first candidate word.

At step 1014 control circuitry 404 selects a second candidate word inthe second voice query 108.

At step 1016 control circuitry 404 determines a second candidatepronunciation time for the second candidate word, wherein the secondcandidate pronunciation time is adjusted from the second pronunciationrate to the first pronunciation rate.

At step 1018 control circuitry 404 determines whether the firstcandidate pronunciation time matches the second candidate pronunciationtime.

If at step 1018 control circuitry 404 determines that the firstcandidate pronunciation time does not match the second candidatepronunciation time, process 1000 optionally continues to step 702 ofprocess 700, step 802 of process 800, or step 902 of process 900.

At step 1020 control circuitry 404 generates a third voice query basedon the first voice query 102, wherein the first candidate word in thefirst voice query 102 is replaced with the second candidate word.

It should be noted that processes 800-1200 or any step thereof could beperformed on, or provided by, any of the devices shown in FIGS. 4-7. Forexample, any of processes 800-1200 may be executed by control circuitry604 (FIG. 6) as instructed by control circuitry implemented on userequipment 702, 704, 706 (FIG. 7), and/or a user equipment for selectinga recommendation. In addition, one or more steps of processes 800-1200may be incorporated into or combined with one or more steps of any otherprocess or embodiment.

It is contemplated that the steps or descriptions of each of FIGS. 6-10may be used with any other embodiment of this disclosure. In addition,the steps and descriptions described in relation to FIGS. 6-10 may bedone in alternative orders or in parallel to further the purposes ofthis disclosure. For example, each of these steps may be performed inany order or in parallel or substantially simultaneously to reduce lagor increase the speed of the system or method. Furthermore, it should benoted that any of the devices or equipment discussed in relation toFIGS. 2-5 could be used to perform one or more of the steps in FIGS.6-10.

It will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that methodsinvolved in the present invention may be embodied in a computer programproduct that includes a computer-usable and/or readable medium. Forexample, such a computer-usable medium may consist of a read-only memorydevice, such as a CD-ROM disk or conventional ROM device, or a randomaccess memory, such as a hard drive device or a computer diskette,having a computer-readable program code stored thereon. It should alsobe understood that methods, techniques, and processes involved in thepresent disclosure may be executed using processing circuitry. Theprocessing circuitry, for instance, may be a general purpose processor,a customized integrated circuit (e.g., an ASIC), or a field-programmablegate array (FPGA) within user equipment 500, media content source 516,or media guidance data source 518. For example, a profile, as describedherein, may be stored in, and retrieved from, storage 408 of FIG. 4, ormedia guidance data source 518 of FIG. 5.

The processes discussed above are intended to be illustrative and notlimiting. One skilled in the art would appreciate that the steps of theprocesses discussed herein may be omitted, modified, combined, and/orrearranged, and any additional steps may be performed without departingfrom the scope of the invention. More generally, the above disclosure ismeant to be exemplary and not limiting. Only the claims that follow aremeant to set bounds as to what the present invention includes.Furthermore, it should be noted that the features and limitationsdescribed in any one embodiment may be applied to any other embodimentherein, and flowcharts or examples relating to one embodiment may becombined with any other embodiment in a suitable manner, done indifferent orders, or done in parallel. In addition, the systems andmethods described herein may be performed in real time. It should alsobe noted that the systems and/or methods described above may be appliedto, or used in accordance with, other systems and/or methods.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for correcting a voice query based on asubsequent voice query with a lower pronunciation rate, comprising:calculating a first pronunciation rate of a first voice query from auser; calculating a second pronunciation rate of a second voice queryfrom the user; determining whether the second pronunciation rate islower than the first pronunciation rate; and in response to determiningthat the second pronunciation rate is lower than the first pronunciationrate: selecting a first candidate word from the first voice query;determining a first candidate pronunciation time for the first candidateword; selecting a second candidate word in the second voice query;determining a second candidate pronunciation time for the secondcandidate word, wherein the second candidate pronunciation time isadjusted from the second pronunciation rate to the first pronunciationrate; determining whether the first candidate pronunciation time matchesthe second candidate pronunciation time; and in response to determiningthat the first candidate pronunciation time matches the second candidatepronunciation time, generating a third voice query based on the firstvoice query, wherein the first candidate word in the first voice queryis replaced with the second candidate word.
 2. The method of claim 1,further comprising: determining a first set of pauses in the first voicequery; and determining, for every two consecutive pauses from the firstset of pauses, a word located between the two consecutive pauses.
 3. Themethod of claim 2, wherein calculating the first pronunciation rate ofthe first voice query comprises: determining a number of pauses in thefirst set of pauses; determining a first number of words as one lessthan the number of pauses in the first set of pauses; and calculatingthe first pronunciation rate based on the first pronunciation time andthe first number of words.
 4. The method of claim 2, wherein determiningthe first candidate pronunciation time for the first candidate word, themethod comprising: determining a first pause from the first set ofpauses, wherein the first pause is located before the first candidateword; determining a second pause from the first set of pauses, whereinthe second pause is located after the first candidate word; determininga first time that corresponds to an end of the first pause; determininga second time that corresponds to a beginning of the second pause; anddetermining the first candidate pronunciation time as a differencebetween the first time and the second time.
 5. The method of claim 1,further comprising: in response to determining that the first candidatepronunciation time does not match the second candidate pronunciationtime: selecting a third candidate word from the first set of words inthe first voice query; determining a third candidate pronunciation timefor the third candidate word in the first voice query; determiningwhether the third candidate pronunciation time matches the secondcandidate pronunciation time; and in response to determining that thethird candidate pronunciation time matches the second candidatepronunciation time: generating a fourth voice query based on the firstset of words and the first pronunciation rate, wherein the thirdcandidate word in the first set of words is replaced with the secondcandidate word; and generating for display one or more search resultsfor the first and second voice queries based on the fourth voice query.6. The method of claim 1, further comprising: in response to determiningthat the first candidate pronunciation time does not match the secondcandidate pronunciation time: selecting a third candidate word from thesecond set of words in the third voice query; determining a thirdcandidate pronunciation time for the third candidate word in the thirdvoice query; determining whether the first candidate pronunciation timematches the third candidate pronunciation time; and in response todetermining that the first candidate pronunciation time matches thethird candidate pronunciation time: generating a fourth voice querybased on the first set of words and the first pronunciation rate,wherein the first candidate word in the first set of words is replacedwith the third candidate word; and generating for display one or moresearch results for the first and second voice queries based on thefourth voice query.
 7. The method of claim 1, further comprising: inresponse to determining that the first candidate pronunciation time doesnot match the second candidate pronunciation time: selecting a thirdcandidate word from the first set of words in the first voice query;determining a third candidate pronunciation time for the third candidateword in the first voice query; selecting a fourth candidate word fromthe second set of words in the third voice query; determining a fourthcandidate pronunciation time for the fourth candidate word in the thirdvoice query; determining whether the third candidate pronunciation timematches the fourth candidate pronunciation time; and in response todetermining that the third candidate pronunciation time matches thefourth candidate pronunciation time: generating a fourth voice querybased on the first set of words and the first pronunciation rate,wherein the third candidate word in the first set of words is replacedwith the fourth candidate word; and generating for display one or moresearch results for the first and second voice queries based on thefourth voice query.
 8. The method of claim 1, wherein determiningwhether the first candidate pronunciation time matches the secondcandidate pronunciation time, the method comprising: receiving athreshold deviation time; determining a time difference between thefirst candidate pronunciation time and the second candidatepronunciation time; determining whether the time difference between thefirst candidate pronunciation time and the second candidatepronunciation time is less than the threshold deviation time; and inresponse to determining that the time difference is less than thethreshold deviation time, determining that the first candidatepronunciation time matches the second candidate pronunciation time. 9.The method of claim 1, wherein generating for display one or more searchresults for the first and second voice queries based on the fourth voicequery, the method comprising: generating for display the fourth voicequery; presenting the user with a first selectable option to indicatethat the fourth voice query is correct and a second selectable option toindicate that the fourth voice query is incorrect; receiving a userselection of the first selectable option to indicate that the fourthvoice query is correct; and in response to receiving the user selectionof the first selectable option, generating for display one or moresearch results for the first and second voice queries based on thefourth voice query.
 10. The method of claim 9, comprising: receiving auser selection of the second selectable option to indicate that thefourth voice query is incorrect; in response to receiving the userselection of the second selectable option, requesting the user to inputanother voice query; receiving a fifth voice query from the user;determining a fifth set of words in the fifth voice query; determining afifth pronunciation time taken by the user for the fifth voice query;calculating a fifth pronunciation rate of the fifth voice query based ona fifth number of words in the fifth set of words and based on the fifthpronunciation time; determining whether the fifth pronunciation rate islower than the first pronunciation rate; and in response to determiningthat the fifth pronunciation rate is lower than the first pronunciationrate: generating a sixth voice query based on the fifth set of words andthe first pronunciation rate; selecting a third candidate word from thefirst set of words in the first voice query; determining a thirdcandidate pronunciation time for the third candidate word in the firstvoice query; selecting a fourth candidate word from the fourth set ofwords in the sixth voice query; determining a fourth candidatepronunciation time for the fourth candidate word in the sixth voicequery; determining whether the third candidate pronunciation timematches the fourth candidate pronunciation time; and in response todetermining that the third candidate pronunciation time matches thefourth candidate pronunciation time: generating a seventh voice querybased on the first set of words and the first pronunciation rate,wherein the third candidate word in the first set of words is replacedwith the fourth candidate word; and generating for display one or moresearch results for the first and fifth voice queries based on the sixthvoice query.
 11. A system for correcting a voice query based on asubsequent voice query with a lower pronunciation rate, comprising: auser input interface configured to receive voice queries from a user;and control circuitry configured to: calculate a first pronunciationrate of a first voice query from the user; calculate a secondpronunciation rate of a second voice query from the user; determinewhether the second pronunciation rate is lower than the firstpronunciation rate; and in response to determining that the secondpronunciation rate is lower than the first pronunciation rate: select afirst candidate word from the first voice query; determine a firstcandidate pronunciation time for the first candidate word; select asecond candidate word in the second voice query; determine a secondcandidate pronunciation time for the second candidate word, wherein thesecond candidate pronunciation time is adjusted from the secondpronunciation rate to the first pronunciation rate; determine whetherthe first candidate pronunciation time matches the second candidatepronunciation time; and in response to determining that the firstcandidate pronunciation time matches the second candidate pronunciationtime, generate a third voice query based on the first voice query,wherein the first candidate word in the first voice query is replacedwith the second candidate word.
 12. The system of claim 11, wherein thecontrol circuitry is further configured to: determine a first set ofpauses in the first voice query; and determine, for every twoconsecutive pauses from the first set of pauses, a word located betweenthe two consecutive pauses.
 13. The system of claim 12, wherein thecontrol circuitry configured to calculate the first pronunciation rateof the first voice query is further configured to: determine a number ofpauses in the first set of pauses; determine a first number of words asone less than the number of pauses in the first set of pauses; andcalculate the first pronunciation rate based on the first pronunciationtime and the first number of words.
 14. The system of claim 12, whereinthe control circuitry configured to determine the first candidatepronunciation time for the first candidate word is further configuredto: determine a first pause from the first set of pauses, wherein thefirst pause is located before the first candidate word; determine asecond pause from the first set of pauses, wherein the second pause islocated after the first candidate word; determine a first time thatcorresponds to an end of the first pause; determine a second time thatcorresponds to a beginning of the second pause; and determine the firstcandidate pronunciation time as a difference between the first time andthe second time.
 15. The system of claim 11, wherein the controlcircuitry is further configured to: in response to determining that thefirst candidate pronunciation time does not match the second candidatepronunciation time: select a third candidate word from the first set ofwords in the first voice query; determine a third candidatepronunciation time for the third candidate word in the first voicequery; determine whether the third candidate pronunciation time matchesthe second candidate pronunciation time; and in response to determiningthat the third candidate pronunciation time matches the second candidatepronunciation time: generate a fourth voice query based on the first setof words and the first pronunciation rate, wherein the third candidateword in the first set of words is replaced with the second candidateword; and generate for display one or more search results for the firstand second voice queries based on the fourth voice query.
 16. The systemof claim 11, wherein the control circuitry is further configured to: inresponse to determining that the first candidate pronunciation time doesnot match the second candidate pronunciation time: select a thirdcandidate word from the second set of words in the third voice query;determine a third candidate pronunciation time for the third candidateword in the third voice query; determine whether the first candidatepronunciation time matches the third candidate pronunciation time; andin response to determining that the first candidate pronunciation timematches the third candidate pronunciation time: generate a fourth voicequery based on the first set of words and the first pronunciation rate,wherein the first candidate word in the first set of words is replacedwith the third candidate word; and generate for display one or moresearch results for the first and second voice queries based on thefourth voice query.
 17. The system of claim 11, wherein the controlcircuitry is further configured to: in response to determining that thefirst candidate pronunciation time does not match the second candidatepronunciation time: select a third candidate word from the first set ofwords in the first voice query; determine a third candidatepronunciation time for the third candidate word in the first voicequery; select a fourth candidate word from the second set of words inthe third voice query; determine a fourth candidate pronunciation timefor the fourth candidate word in the third voice query; determinewhether the third candidate pronunciation time matches the fourthcandidate pronunciation time; and in response to determining that thethird candidate pronunciation time matches the fourth candidatepronunciation time: generate a fourth voice query based on the first setof words and the first pronunciation rate, wherein the third candidateword in the first set of words is replaced with the fourth candidateword; and generate for display one or more search results for the firstand second voice queries based on the fourth voice query.
 18. The systemof claim 11, wherein the control circuitry configured to determinewhether the first candidate pronunciation time matches the secondcandidate pronunciation time is further configured to: receive athreshold deviation time; determine a time difference between the firstcandidate pronunciation time and the second candidate pronunciationtime; determine whether the time difference between the first candidatepronunciation time and the second candidate pronunciation time is lessthan the threshold deviation time; and in response to determining thatthe time difference is less than the threshold deviation time, determinethat the first candidate pronunciation time matches the second candidatepronunciation time.
 19. The system of claim 11, wherein the controlcircuitry configured to generate for display one or more search resultsfor the first and second voice queries based on the fourth voice queryis further configured to: generate for display the fourth voice query;present the user with a first selectable option to indicate that thefourth voice query is correct and a second selectable option to indicatethat the fourth voice query is incorrect; receive a user selection ofthe first selectable option to indicate that the fourth voice query iscorrect; and in response to receiving the user selection of the firstselectable option, generate for display one or more search results forthe first and second voice queries based on the fourth voice query. 20.The system of claim 19, wherein the control circuitry is furtherconfigured to: receive a user selection of the second selectable optionto indicate that the fourth voice query is incorrect; in response toreceiving the user selection of the second selectable option, requestthe user to input another voice query; receive a fifth voice query fromthe user; determine a fifth set of words in the fifth voice query;determine a fifth pronunciation time taken by the user for the fifthvoice query; calculate a fifth pronunciation rate of the fifth voicequery based on a fifth number of words in the fifth set of words andbased on the fifth pronunciation time; determine whether the fifthpronunciation rate is lower than the first pronunciation rate; and inresponse to determining that the fifth pronunciation rate is lower thanthe first pronunciation rate: generate a sixth voice query based on thefifth set of words and the first pronunciation rate; select a thirdcandidate word from the first set of words in the first voice query;determine a third candidate pronunciation time for the third candidateword in the first voice query; select a fourth candidate word from thefourth set of words in the sixth voice query; determine a fourthcandidate pronunciation time for the fourth candidate word in the sixthvoice query; determine whether the third candidate pronunciation timematches the fourth candidate pronunciation time; and in response todetermining that the third candidate pronunciation time matches thefourth candidate pronunciation time: generate a seventh voice querybased on the first set of words and the first pronunciation rate,wherein the third candidate word in the first set of words is replacedwith the fourth candidate word; and generate for display one or moresearch results for the first and fifth voice queries based on the sixthvoice query.